Legend of the Rose
by RavenRose8
Summary: Ruby Rose, or the Red Reaper as she's known to everyone has been fighting the White Fang for years but what happens when she runs into a Huntress while on a job? Will she still be able to complete her mission or will she be locked away? (Major AU, number of changes etc.)
1. Chapter 1

Alright so another new story, Wolf Faunus Ruby AU, and loads of other things please enjoy.

 _"You can't patch a wounded soul with a Band-Aid."_

 _― Michael Connelly, The Black Echo_

Chapter 1-

 _Legends. Stories scattered through time. Mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains, forgetting so easily that we are remnants, by-products, of a forgotten past._

 _Man, born from dust, was strong, wise, and resourceful, but he was born into an unforgiving world. An inevitable darkness — creatures of destruction — the creatures of Grimm - set their sights on man and all of his creations. These forces clashed, and it seemed the darkness was intent on returning man's brief existence to the void._

 _However, even the smallest spark of hope is enough to ignite change, and in time, man's passion, resourcefulness, and ingenuity led them to the tools that would help even the odds. This power was appropriately named "Dust."_

 _Nature's wrath in hand, man lit their way through the darkness, and in the shadow's absence came strength, civilization, and most importantly, life._

 _But even the most brilliant lights eventually flicker and die. And when they are gone... darkness will return._

 _So you may prepare your guardians, build your monuments to a so-called "free world," but take heed... there will be no victory in strength._

 _But perhaps victory is in the simpler things that you've long forgotten. Things that require a smaller, more honest soul._

* * *

"He's here, alongside seven guys in black suits and red ties, look like Juniors lot." A voice said into the ear of a short girl wearing a dark red cape with the hood covering her head.

The girl gave no reply as she pretended to read the gun magazine in her hands with headphones over her ears playing nothing.

"Ok they're inside now, arrogant prick." The girl in her ear stated.

Again the girl gave no reply as she heard the entire exchange between the criminals and the shop keeper, as they started to steal the dust she kept quiet until one of them finally noticed her.

The man in the suit with his sword walked up to the girl in the red cloak, pointing his sword at her back saying, "Alright kid, put your hands where I can see 'em." He said, pushing his sword forward slightly.

The girl heard everything but gave no reaction and just as the man was going to speak again she spun around with her leg up.

Her first kick knocked his weapon arm to the side while her second caught him around the face making him stumble back before the girl threw her leg once more into his stomach knocking him back to the front of the shop.

Another man came running towards the girl who, using the man's momentum caught his arm as he moved his sword into a swing, she caught the man's wrist and threw him back the way he came but this time through the window.

Seeing that her options were limited the girl jumped out through the broken window while deploying her large weapon.

All of the remaining henchmen alongside the ringleader all came out to see a girl with a large red cape and massive scythe waiting outside for them.

"Okay. Get her!" The ringleader shouted at the other henchmen.

Then the girl spoke, her voice robotic but held a cheerful tone to it, "Please surrender peacefully or else." The voice stated, sounding cheerful.

"But sir, that's the Red Reaper." Once of the henchmen stated, backing up slightly in fear.

"So? Just get her." The man shouted once more.

The henchmen all ran forward swinging swords towards the girl as they attempted to kill her with the sharp blades.

The girl, Red Reaper just jumped back from the swings while firing a bullet behind her throwing her scythe into a wide arc with the blunt end of the blade hitting it into one of the henchmen's stomach throwing him back against the wall of the shop.

Red reacted quickly as she loaded another round at the same time and fired again, moving her own body in the same time she hit the blade into the next guy's legs before swinging her body around and kicking him in the head.

"Ouch he'll feel that later." The voice in her ear said cheerfully.

The girl landed with her scythe buried into the concrete as she herself had one foot along the rifle with the other in the air as she looked towards the remaining henchmen.

"Last chance." The robotic voice said, all cheerfulness gone from the voice as it was replaced with menace.

The three remaining henchmen looked between themselves as they dropped their weapons and started running away.

"You were worth every cent. Truly, you were." The man said as he dropped his cigar to the ground and crushed it with his cane.

"I've got the runners." The voice in her ear said cheerfully.

"Well, Red, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening, and as much as I'd love to stick around but I know your reputation Red." The man, Roman said as he raised his cane up which the end popped open with a small sight for him.

Firing at the girl she quickly aimed her weapon at the ground and flew up into the air avoiding the blast and she landed next to the front of the shop.

Landing on the ground she looked up to see Roman climbing up a ladder, looking over to the shopkeeper to check he was ok, she fired at the ground once more to launch herself onto the roof.

Roman almost sensing the girl behind her turned to find her still chasing her, "Persistent aren't you Red?" He stated as he climbed into a rising Bullhead that was waiting for him.

Climbing inside he shouted, "End of the line Red." He said while throwing a red dust crystal at her and raised his cane again, firing another blast at her feet.

The girl was about to fire behind her so she could chase after the man but a tall blond woman jumped in front of her with a riding crop in her hand as a purple shield was erected in front of the two of them.

Annoyed the girl was glad her hood hid her face from view as the tall woman started to attack the Bullhead that Roman had gotten into.

"Huntress, suggest you run." The voice in her ear stated, worry evident in her voice.

The girl ignored the comment as she watched the fight play out with the huntress losing the battle as a woman hidden in shadows started to attack back.

Seeing the losing battle she started to fire up at the woman but as she noticed the shots being blocked she changed her aim to the engines as the ground ignited into red circles, she knew she would survive blasts but it was clear the Huntress didn't think that.

She was pulled back by the woman as she jumped back as well, at the same time the Bullhead rose up and shot off into the distance as the roof exploded.

Annoyed the girl recovered quickly and started to walk away when she felt something on the back of her head before darkness rose to meet her.

* * *

The girl, Ruby Rose or as she was better known by Vale as the Red Reaper. She was sixteen years old, contrary to what people believed that she was in fact older than this.

For the last seven she had been fighting against the White Fang and partly against humans who would hurt Faunus.

Seven years since her mother died by the hands of the White Fang elite and she had taken up her mother's fight against the violent organisation, she knew some of them were still good and didn't like this new direction, a few ever succeeded in getting out of the organisation but she knew of the few who did succeed and even helped them in finding new lives.

The Vale police while outwardly and publically said that she was a criminal, privately they hailed her as a hero but for the public, especially the humans she stopped from attacking Faunus were people with power normally and would demand her capture, even putting bounties on her but they never succeeded.

It was different for the Hunters and Huntresses, while she did attack the Grimm and help those in need but it wasn't as much a major concern for her, whose focus was on the White Fang and the immediate threat they pose.

She had only had interaction with a few Hunters and Huntresses, and those were limited to only two Hunters who had never seen her face or heard her speak at all.

They had tried to apprehend her which only failed as she knew what was happening and disabled them before they could attack her. As a sort of peace offering to them she had taken out a White Fang lieutenant and gave him to the two Hunters.

After that she was left alone except for when one of the Hunters had woken up and tried to talk to her, which only failed. This had happened three years ago when she was thirteen years old.

She felt the darkness of sleep start to clear up as she slowly woke up to a dull grey room with two chairs, one of which was occupied by Ruby with her hand's handcuffed behind her back and to the chair.

She noticed that her hood was still up meaning that either they didn't know how to take it down or allowed her to leave it up, either way Ruby didn't mind.

Her hands were quick with practised ease as she started to fiddle with the handcuffs on her wrists while she looked around the room.

It didn't take long for a man to enter alongside the same blonde woman from earlier that night, or was it the next day? How long was she asleep? Ruby allowed these thoughts to fly through her mind before focusing on the people in front of her.

"Hello, I believe you met Miss Glynda Goodwitch here, do you know who I am?" The man asked as he sat down opposite Ruby.

Ruby slowly nodded her head, she knew who Ozpin was. He was the headmaster of Beacon Academy but also the Hunter who tried to talk to her three years ago.

 _"Why are you doing this?" Ozpin asked, his voice full of curiosity._

 _Ruby turned to look at the man, cocking her head to the side through her hood in confusion how the man was awake, he should be out for hours._

 _Ruby stood watching the man debating with herself about whether or not to answer his question or not but instead didn't speak deciding it was best to leave it._

 _"We could help you." Ozpin stated to the cloaked woman._

 _"How?" A robotic voice asked quietly._

 _"Publically we can't, but we can offer support and give you equipment when you need it." Ozpin said, trying to get more from the Red Reaper._

 _"I don't need it." The robotic voice stated firmly._

 _"What do you need then?" Ozpin asked, trying anything he could think of to learn more about the woman._

 _Ruby stood their silent as she tried to think through what she could want or would need from him, her mind went back to what she was told when she was younger._

 _"I don't need support or equipment but I need the ability to provide information I find directly to Hunters instead of leaving the information for them." Ruby's robotic voice informed him._

 _"I can do that, I can give you a method direct into the Hunters network where information is shared between Hunters and where missions are assigned." Ozpin said, trying to get out of the rope so he could give the information over._

 _"Don't! I'll leave a method to contact me with the information." The voice said firmly, making Ozpin stop._

 _"Ok then, but why don't you join my school? I run Beacon Academy and surely someone of your skill would do well." Ozpin asked, almost pleading with the woman._

 _Ruby just ignored him as she placed a note on his chest before turning around and leaving them, not talking to them again._

 _She had left the two Hunters tied loosely to a pipe, they could easily get out of there with a more securely tied up White Fang Lieutenant across from them with a small note on the front of him written in elegant writing. 'A present.'_

 _Ruby subtly shook her head as she became lost in the memory, as if it happened mere minutes ago. She had been given access to the network where she was able to inform Hunters of attacks by the White Fang, one's that she couldn't stop._

Now she had chosen to remain silent she waited to hear the next question by the man in front of him.

"I believe you never answered my question that night." Ozpin said, as if he knew where Ruby's mind had gone.

Remaining silent Ruby finally got the handcuffs unlocked but didn't make a move to give away what she was free.

"The grunts are outside the precinct, I can break you out if you wish." The voice in her ear asked, sounding cheerful as if she wanted to break Ruby out.

Cocking her head to the side Ruby thought about what she wanted to do before a silent no was sent through to the woman on the other end.

"Are you talking to someone?" Miss Goodwitch asked harshly.

Ruby turned to look at Glynda, making the older woman slightly uncomfortable as she didn't know what to make of the look.

What surprised both adults in the room was when the Reaper spoke, but instead of hearing a human voice it was a robotic voice that spoke.

"Why does it matter to you who we talk to?" The voice spoke harshly.

"We?" Glynda asked, confused at the statement while Ozpin looked at Ruby with interest.

"Doesn't matter about that you stupid woman, you better let us go or else." The robotic voice said as it grew threatening.

"Or what?" Glynda asked as she brought her riding crop into her hands.

"We'll show you what was going to happen to Roman before you got in the way." The voice stated.

Glynda started to rise up as she approached towards Ruby as a purple glyph started to form around the woman.

"Miss Goodwitch." Ozpin said, relaxed as if the two women were about to fight.

Glynda backed down and sat down while the robotic voice started to have a conversation with seemingly herself.

"Jump." Ruby whispered softly but knew she had heard her.

"Are you sure?" The robotic voice asked out loud so everyone could hear.

"Yes, I'll be fine." Ruby whispered once more.

"If you're sure, I'll be back if something happens." The voice said before it seemingly stopped speaking.

They heard an unfamiliar but human voice whisper with a raspy sound, a voice that sounded as if it hadn't been used in years.

"I'm sorry for Aria, she gets protective over me." Ruby spoke, her voice unfamiliar.

"Aria?" Glynda asked, but she got no answer to her question as Ozpin started to speak.

"What is your name? We can't keep calling you Red Reaper." He said, his voice soft and comforting.

"Ruby, my name is Ruby." Ruby stated, watching as Ozpin's seemed to have a flash of recognition go across it.

The woman, Glynda seemed to write that down on the tablet in her arms while she left Ozpin to do the talking.

"Well then Ruby, do you know who I am?" Ozpin asked once more, his voice kind and gentle.

"Of course, you are Ozpin a Hunter but also the headmaster of Beacon Academy where you train Hunters and Huntresses." Ruby said, with textbook accuracy.

"That I am, do you know why you are here?" Ozpin asked.

"Because I am believed to be a criminal and as such I was rendered unconscious and brought here to be locked up." Ruby stated, almost tiredly.

"That is the reason Miss Goodwitch brought you here but that is incorrect." Ozpin stated, "Do you remember what I asked you three years ago?" He asked the girl, curious if she remembered.

"You asked me why I was doing this, fighting the White Fang. I assume that is what you are referring to." Ruby stated.

"Yes it is, you didn't answer my question that night will you now?" Ozpin asked the girl.

Ruby paused for a minute as she contemplated answering the question, "I'm guessing if I said I had no reason you wouldn't believe me?" Ruby asked.

"You're right, we wouldn't." Glynda stated plainly.

"If you don't wish to answer then I won't pressure you but I should tell you why we're having this conversation." Ozpin stated while Glynda started to type on her scroll.

"What do you think of Huntresses?" He asked the younger girl.

"They are highly trained warriors who work at pushing back the Grimm and are also known to stop White Fang attacks when they can stop them with enough warning of the attack." Ruby stated, again almost reading from a textbook as she spoke.

"That is true, but what do you think of them yourself Ruby? Not what a textbook tells you." Ozpin asked once more, trying to get an insight into the girls mind.

"They allow me to complete my mission against the White Fang without having to worry as much about the Grimm, they help the people as a whole and I look up to them in a way because my mother was a Huntress but I know that I can't become one." Ruby said, her voice almost sad as she spoke the first hint of any emotion during the whole conversation.

"Why can't you become a Huntress? It is clear you already have a large amount of training so what is stopping you?" Ozpin asked, getting more interest into Ruby's responses.

Ruby tilted her head to the side slightly and looked down towards the table, "I have no formal training except for my mother and uncle who trained me in hand to hand combat and using my scythe respectively. I have never been to school either so no matter how much I would want to become one, I simply cannot." Ruby stated, her entire voice and body language showed her sadness at the news.

Ozpin felt sympathy for the girl in front of her as he heard the story while his mind mentally clicked about who could have taught Ruby what she knew, "You are already better trained than almost any Huntress out there, I would be happy to offer you a place at Beacon." Ozpin stated.

"Why would I need to go to a school if I'm better the most out there?" Ruby asked, curious as to why he said that.

"There are always things you can learn but wouldn't you prefer to be officially recognised as a Huntress instead of being looked at as a criminal." Ozpin said to the girl.

"But how would that even work as I'm seen as a criminal by most people, it would be counterproductive for you to do this." Ruby stated, confused.

"Do not worry about this Ruby, I am well aware of what the police believe of you and I share their view, especially after our run in a few years ago. Why else do you think no more Hunters have gone after you?" Ozpin asked.

"I guessed they heard what happened to you and decided they didn't want to risk a run in with me." Ruby said playfully although she knew the answer.

"I'm sure you already know that I had to do with that, but at the time you never answered me when I asked about becoming a Huntress and joining my school. So I'll ask again, do you wish to join my school?" He asked.

"Do I have a choice? I highly doubt you would let me go." Ruby stated plainly.

"If you do not wish to join, we shall leave you and I'm sure you will break out on your own but I highly doubt you are going to turn down the offer." Ozpin said, sure of himself.

"How would you know that?" Ruby asked, curious as to how he would know that.

"I have a feeling that you won't turn down my offer, let's leave it at that." Ozpin said with a slight smile.

"There was a reason I couldn't accept your offer three years ago, although it would still look suspicious now it is less so the before." Ruby said cryptically.

"Suspicious? How so?" Glynda asked.

"How old am I Miss Goodwitch?" Ruby asked the older woman.

"Well you appeared seven years ago but judging by the way you fight and the fact Ozpin is offering you a place in the school I would assume you are in your early to mid twenties." Glynda guessed.

Ruby almost laughed at the comment, she silently wished she was that age but sadly she wasn't. Checking with Aria that all the cameras were disabled she raised her hands up to her hood and pulled it down.

Ruby had soft but defined facial features, with sharp cheekbones with a small nose and pale pink lips shut tightly closed. Her hair was long and reached her shoulders but tied back into a loose ponytail with the dark red tips mixing with her natural black hair with headphones on her head but away from her ears so she could hear people.

What the most striking features to the two adults in the room were the cold, calculating silver eyes staring back at them.

Glynda was stunned by the fact that the girl in front of them looked so young in everything except her eyes which looked much older than the rest of her body by many years.

Ozpin stared at Ruby seemingly lost as he looked at Ruby, lost in a memory until he finally snapped out of his thoughts, "How old are you Ruby?" He asked.

"I am sixteen years old, I will be turning seventeen in two months." Ruby stated clearly.

"Then that means you were only thirteen when you met Ozpin and only nine years old when you started becoming the Red Reaper." Glynda said, stunned at a girl so young fighting against the White Fang.

"I was only publically attacking them for seven years, I was working with my mother in a more private war against them for almost ten years now." Ruby informed the two of them.

"Ten years? But you were still a child." Glynda said, stunned at the information.

"It was either fight and protect myself or I would end up dead, they tried to kill me before but I was able to stop them so I didn't want to be defenceless and begged my mother, she agreed." Ruby informed them.

"But why were the White Fang attacking you?" Glynda asked while Ozpin remained silent.

"Because my mother and I were different, we were the last of our kind and it looked weak to the White Fang so they moved to have us killed." Ruby said emotionless.

"Last of your kind?" Glynda asked once more.

Thinking for a minute Ruby reached up once more and removed her headphones from her head to lay them on the table as two wolf ears popped up from her head after being hidden by the headphones.

She wiggled her ears a bit as they were allowed their freedom, they matched her hair colour almost exactly with the tips of the ears being red.

"You're a wolf Faunus." Ozpin stated, which Glynda only echoed.

"I am, and the last of my kind." Ruby said sadly.

"What about your mother?" Glynda asked.

"She was killed by the White Fang, they overwhelmed her while I was with my uncle training. I returned home to discover that she was dead on the floor." Ruby said, fury entering her voice as she spoke with her fists tightening.

"How do you know it was the White Fang?" Glynda asked, curious as to the evidence.

"I found almost a hundred dead White Fang soldiers, if that's not proof enough then I don't know what is." Ruby said calmly.

"When did this happen?" Ozpin asked.

"Six years ago." Ruby stated, showing when she became a more dominant figure in the public eye.

"The same time as Summer." Ozpin mumbled to himself, "Ruby may I ask what your last name is?" Ozpin asked.

"You may ask but why do you want to know?" Ruby asked, defensive.

"So we can put this information into the school network." Ozpin said, not giving away what he thought.

"It's Rose, my full name is Ruby Rose." Ruby gave the two adults.

"You are the daughter of Summer Rose aren't you?" Ozpin asked, finally giving away what he knew.

"How do you know that name?" Ruby asked, tense as she heard the man say his mother's name.

"I knew Summer, we were on a team together a long time ago. About twenty years ago she vanished and we didn't know where she had gone." Ozpin said, his voice taking a slightly sad tone.

"She never told me who my father was, but she spoke about when she was a Huntress working with a team before she had to leave that team however she never told me why she had to leave, do you know?" Ruby asked, hopeful in finding out more about her mother.

"I am afraid I do not, but I could try and look into it for you." Ozpin suggested.

"Really?" Ruby asked, hopeful at the news.

"Yes, I am not sure what I would find by I could look into it for you." Ozpin said.

"Thank you." Ruby breathed out with a small smile on her face. _Finally, maybe I can get some answers._ Ruby thought to herself.


	2. Chapter 2

_The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting._

 _-Sun Tzu_

 **Chapter 2-**

Before anything more could be asked a knock sounded on the door leading Ruby to quickly put her headphones back on alongside her hood as well to hide herself.

Glynda moved to the door, having a quiet conversation with whoever was behind it before closing the door and speaking to Ozpin.

"They are asking what is going on with Miss Rose, and what we are going to do with her." Glynda informed them.

Ozpin nodded his head before turning to look at Ruby, "So Ruby, are you going to accept my offer of joining Beacon as a student?" Ozpin asked.

"I will, but I would like some freedom as well." Ruby said.

"Why don't we talk about it while on an airship to Beacon? I believe that will be more private." Ozpin suggested as he stood up.

Ruby followed suit, "Ok then, could you just give me a minute?" Ruby asked.

Nodding their heads the two teachers waited by the door for her, hearing what was being said in the one-sided conversation she was having.

"Neo, you there?" Ruby asked as she pressed two fingers to just behind her ear.

"Of course sweetie, what's the occasion?" The woman, Neo asked cheerfully.

"Occasion?" Ruby asked, confused.

"Well the fact you're speaking and not using Aria." Neo said.

"Remember when I told you of the incident with the hunters a couple years ago?" Ruby said.

"Of course, a hunter offered you a place at his school. What about it?" Neo asked.

"He's here and asked me again, I'm accepting it." Ruby told her.

"You're what? Why? What happened to the whole working alone thing?" Neo asked, surprised at what Ruby was saying.

"I told him about myself and mother." Ruby informed her.

"Really?" Neo said, sounding hurt as it had taken almost a year for Ruby to tell her about her mother and about her being a Faunus.

"He knew her, he was on her team all those years ago and he's going to try and find out who my dad is." Ruby said excitedly, unaware that the two teachers were hearing what she was saying.

"That's great Rubes. So you're going to Beacon with him?" Neo asked.

"How did you know it was Beacon? I never told you his name." Ruby asked.

"Ah well you see Aria was worried about you so she hacked into the cameras in the room and well we both saw and heard what was going on." Neo said sheepishly.

"Sure, it was Aria who was worried. But yes I will be, I'm about to go with him now to Beacon….." Ruby paused for a minute thinking how to ask but said softly, "I want you to come with me." Ruby said hesitantly.

"You want me to come? Why's that?" Neo asked hopeful and surprised that Ruby was asking that.

"I do, I um…." Ruby started to say before stopping, "I want you to come." Ruby said, not finishing what she was going to say.

"Oh, ok." Neo said, slightly deflated.

Ruby was silent for a minute as she tried to think up what to say back to Neo, but she couldn't think of anything to say but she didn't have to as Neo spoke.

"I'll join you, I can still do what I do now anyway but if you really want me to join you I will. Will it be ok?" Neo asked, unsure.

"Um I don't know, I'm going to ask now, are you ok with it?" Ruby asked once more.

"Of course, if you want me there I can be there." Neo told her.

"I do, I'll ask now." Ruby said before she went over to the door to speak to Ozpin and Glynda.

"Um Ozpin I have a request." Ruby asked nervously.

"What is it Ruby?" Ozpin asked, noticing how nervous Ruby was being.

"I have a…a friend of mine, I want her to join me at Beacon." Ruby said, unsure how to phrase it completely.

"Who is this friend of yours?" Ozpin asked.

"Um, she can meet us by the airship so I can introduce you." Ruby said.

Ozpin thought for a minute as he decided what to do and saw what Ruby was like, "Ok, tell her to meet us at port Six A, and we'll meet her there." Ozpin informed her.

"Thank you." Ruby said as she let a breath of relief out as she informed Neo of where to go to meet them.

It took them an hour to arrive at the docks which were empty except for a single airship waiting in the dock for them.

Appearing out of seemingly nowhere was a short girl, shorter than Ruby who appeared next to said girl. She had oddly coloured hair with half being pink and the other half being brown with a white strike in the pink side.

She was wearing a white jacket with a pink interior, brown pants alongside grey/white high heels that make her slightly taller, she also wore a black corset which was curved to show her hips and had a multitude of necklaces around her neck.

She had a wide smile on her face as she leaned on umbrella on the ground, blinking at the two adults as her eyes changed from pink and brown as she looked towards them but as she looked to Ruby they changed to a soft brown.

"Hello." Neo said cheerfully towards them all as she wrapped one arm around Ruby's side, hugging the girl into her.

"Hello, who are you?" Ozpin asked, curious at the new girl.

"My name's Neo, I'm Ruby's girlfriend and I help her with her other business." Neo said, the smile never leaving her face as she spoke to them all.

"Well then, it is a pleasure to meet you Neo. Why don't we all board the ship and talk more in private?" Ozpin suggested as he started to walk towards the ship, Glynda following behind him a second later.

"You ok?" Neo asked Ruby as the two started to follow the teachers.

"I'm fine." Ruby said flatly.

Neo pouted at Ruby, "Ruby." She said softly.

Ruby's face faltered slightly, "I'm ok, a little tired and annoyed that he got away. What have your contacts got to say about him?" Ruby asked.

"Not a lot, career criminal who's been hired by someone to work with the White Fang but nothing on who that might be or why he's been hired." Neo said, pausing as she held something back.

"What is there?" Ruby asked, worry entering her voice.

"My contacts are all saying the same thing, something big is coming and it's soon. The White Fang are stealing a lot of dust, you remember Nightshade?" Neo asked, knowing exactly what the answer would be.

"Of course, the most efficient member of the White Fang who I helped a few months ago to get out. She had never killed anyone and wanted out after stopping her partner from killing a load of people on a train carrying a dust shipment." Ruby said as they climbed on board the large airship, following Ozpin and Glynda towards a large open area with tables set out.

"Yep, well we learnt that they are going after dust shipments like mad and the fact they are slightly getting more violent. Well that's what I'm being told everywhere and the fact it's getting big and they're storing up loads of dust for something." Neo said, worried about what could be happening.

"Well keep working on it, sooner we find out then the better." Ruby said.

"There is a way I can find out more." Neo said, reluctant to tell Ruby.

Stopping them from walking to the table where the two teachers were sitting, Ruby turned to face Neo. "What is it?" Ruby asked, unsure why Neo was reluctant to tell her something.

"Roman's looking for a partner." Neo said in a small voice.

Ruby paused for a minute as she digested the information before speaking in an equally small voice, "And you want to take that position."

"I think it will be a good thing to do, yes. I'm sure I can find out more from the inside and…." Neo said, trailing off a little.

"You've been bored haven't you?" Ruby said playfully.

Neo glared at Ruby but ended up smiling as she saw the smile in Ruby's eyes, "Yes I have, it's been a while since I've felt the thrill of a heist or anything. It's a win-win situation really." Neo said.

"Let's talk about it later, ok?" Ruby said as she noticed the eyes of the two adults on her.

"Ok then." Neo said smiling as she took Ruby's arm and linked it with her own as they walked happily over to the table.

"So Neo, how old are you?" Ozpin asked while Glynda tapped on her scroll.

"Sixteen, turning seventeen this year." Neo said with a smile.

"Ok, and your name is Neo correct?" Glynda confirmed.

"My full name is Neopolitan but I just go by Neo." Neo confirmed to the woman.

"Last name?" Glynda asked, one eyebrow raised.

"None." Neo said emotionless.

"Ok then, what about weapon proficiency? Have you any video or a way to show us your skills?" Glynda asked.

"We could spar." Ruby suggested.

"Excellent idea Miss Ruby, we can do that when we arrive at the academy." Glynda told them.

"If that is all, why don't we discuss what you want in exchange for joining my school?" Ozpin said, a mug of something in his hands.

"We would like the freedom to come and go as we please, while we would be attending the school as a student we still have my own mission to complete." Ruby said, making sure to include Neo.

"Agreed, however in return for this freedom I would like you to teach some students." Ozpin said, taking a sip from his mug.

"Teach what? And why? I'm going to be a student." Ruby said, confused at the idea.

"I will be honest with you Ruby, the only reason you are a student is because of your age. If you were say twenty years old then I would likely offer you a full teaching position alongside being officially recognised as a Huntress but as it stands it would be too suspicious if I were to do that so we are at an impasse." Ozpin stated.

"So to get around it we'll be Huntresses in training and you'll have Ruby teach some students, but wouldn't it look odd if Ruby was teaching as herself?" Neo asked.

"That is correct Neo, however if Ruby were to teach as her Red Reaper identity it would look less so. I am sure the police will release the fact of where she has gone soon so this way it would work in both of our favours." Ozpin informed them.

"In exchange for teaching you'll let me and Neo have the freedom we need, correct?" Ruby asked, wanting to clarify it all.

"Yes." Ozpin stated.

"Ok then, we'll accept." Ruby said with a nod.

"Good, any more requests or questions?" Ozpin asked the groups.

"Nope." Ruby said with a slight smile.

"I do, who was that you were talking too originally?" Glynda asked, putting down her scroll.

"Aria, she is a Virtual Intelligence that I created. She is able to hack into most networks and provides support, she also acts as my speaker the majority of the time as she has a direct link into my head." Ruby said plainly.

"Direct link?" Glynda asked.

"It's complicated, I have an implant just behind my human ear so I can speak directly to Neo whenever I need to, and she also has a similar implant. Aria is able to move between us as long as there is a clear connection." Ruby stated, as if teaching someone.

"That sort of technology is way ahead of most of what we currently have." Glynda said, surprised.

"It's not as far ahead as you think, it is actually in development now but we were um able to acquire this this and it suited our needs." Neo said, avoiding how they were able to get this technology.

"I see." Glynda said, not asking the question about the speaking element but chose that topic for another time.

"Well, we'll be arriving shortly. The new students won't be arriving for at least another week so you can at least settle in." Ozpin informed the two of them.

 **A/N**

 **So getting to Beacon next chapter and you can see some underlying things with Ruby and Neo if you look at some of the interactions between the two of them. Anyway thanks for reading.**


	3. Chapter 3

_To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace._

 _-George Washington_

 **Note at the bottom, please read.**

 **Chapter 3-**

When they arrived at the school they were quickly shown around and shown where they would be sleeping for the moment, a simple dorm room with two beds and a bathroom inside.

Once this was all done they were taken to the arena so Neo could show off her skills in combat, but instead of fighting Ruby they had gotten a second year team to do it.

"Team CFVY, meet Neo she is going to be your opponent today." Glynda said from the stands with Ruby and Ozpin standing next to her.

"All four of us against just her?" The leader, Coco asked confused.

"Yes, you may begin when ready." Glynda said, her tone brokering no argument.

"Are you sure she can handle four of them?" Ozpin asked the girl next to her.

"I'm sure, I've seen her against worse odds." Ruby informed the older man.

Neo had a wide smile on her face as she bowed to her four opponents, as she stood up straight her eyes had changed from brown to one pink and one brown eye as she waited for them to attack.

They had been allowed weapons but Coco felt hers was too destructive to fight so instead run towards Neo swinging her bag at her.

Neo effortlessly dodged the attack with a flip but as soon as she landed the rabbit Faunus, Velvet was already in the air with her foot outstretched.

She had landed with her hand on the ground as she spotted Velvet, pushing herself up again she avoided the attack and landed on the ground silently.

Seeing one of them standing still with his weapons by his side she looked confused at him before having to dodge the much larger man with an equally large sword.

This was how the battle went with Neo dodging attack after attack, none of the participants aura's being touched at all.

Neo had noticed early on that one of them was standing still and deciding to take him out first she jumped over Coco's back, placing a hand to push her down while she performed another flip and kicked the one man in the face.

He was shocked by the attack as he flew towards the wall, the one kick depleting his aura into the red instantly.

Up in the stands Glynda gasped as she saw the damage the single kick did, turning to Ruby who was smiling widely she asked, "What was that?"

"That was Neo, her preferred style of fighting is to simply wear down her opponent until they are tired, she can last a long time as it all comes naturally to her. She saw an opportunity there and she took it, he's blind isn't he?" Ruby informed them both before asking them a question.

"He is, he relies on his extremely good hearing in order to fight however he has never come across someone who is completely silent like that." Glynda told Ruby.

"Ah I see, but to answer your question about Neo it is part of her semblance in a way. She has the ability to teleport and for illusion, because of this she is able to displace herself and use her aura, to the point that she can actually increase the force of her attacks." Ruby informed the two.

"But normally you can see the Aura manifest itself when they do it." Glynda asked.

"Well as you know Aura is used as a shield and for protection and it varies on strength person to person, however in the same way we can create barriers with it and can increase our abilities with it also, and as you stated it would be more visible. But we can both put it into small bursts, so we can actually make small explosions with it, or even direct it to a certain point of out body. In this case her foot." Ruby explained to the older woman.

"How were you able to do that?" Glynda asked.

"With a lot of time and patience, it makes for highly efficient hand to hand combat and let us take people out quickly." Ruby explained to them.

By this point Neo had already taken out the rest of the team, using their time being stunned by the fact she had taken Fox out in one hit.

Finishing up the fight Neo bowed towards her staggering opponents before leaving the arena. After the fight, which easily impressed the two teachers the two girls had retreated to their small dorm room but instead of using both beds they were laying on one, talking.

* * *

"So you want to join Roman's side?" Ruby asked.

"I think it would help." Neo said, turning onto her side to face Ruby.

"I think so to, when do you think it'll happen?" Ruby asked.

Neo shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know, I'll put it out there that I'm looking for work but no one knows what I really do so it should be alright." Neo said.

"If you say, but just be careful ok?" Ruby said.

"Aren't I always?" Neo said with a smirk, "But it'll take a little bit for everything to be set up so I can just enjoy being here." Neo said as she pulled Ruby into a hug.

Ruby awkwardly returned the hug as Neo smiled and rested her head underneath Ruby's chin, the two slowly falling asleep with each other.

* * *

Up inside Beacon tower Ozpin sat at his desk with Glynda Goodwitch looking over his shoulder down at the scroll on the desk.

The first message on the screen was what Ozpin had sent to his old friend and partner Qrow, who he had told that Ruby was at his school now.

The next message she sent was to the other former teammate of his, Mizu Amsel who was partners with Summer and the four of them made up a team. He was unsure what to say to the woman she hadn't spoken to in almost twenty years, leaving it alone he instead opened up a picture of the four of them all together.

The picture was in their final year of school, just before graduation the four of them were all smiling and hugging each other for the photo.

* * *

The following week went by quickly for the two girls as they kept to themselves and leaving the students alone, when all the new students started to arrive Ruby and Neo both went to have a look.

Ruby was sitting on the edge of the fountain watching the new students arrived, she watched as a blonde boy had gone over to Weiss Schnee, knocking over her suitcases and causing an explosion of red dust.

She also watched as another girl had stepped in to inform the boy who Weiss was, while at the same time speaking out about the questionable labour of the Schnee Dust industry.

Which Ruby knew all about, having helped some Faunus escape from a Schnee dust mine and help them start new lives, however it was getting harder for her to do this.

Ruby smiled as she watched Weiss Schnee stomp off away from the blonde boy and the other girl, who had turned to see Ruby smiling at them.

Instant recognition crossed over Blake's face as she said, "Pup." She stated, walking over to Ruby.

"Cat, nice speech." Ruby said with a smile.

"It's only the truth, she looks like she needs to be put in her place." Blake said.

"Suppose so, but then again you couldn't really talk too much could you?" Ruby said.

"How do you mean?" Blake asked, confused.

Ruby just stood up, leaning to whisper into Blake's ear, "Oh well Nightshade has quite the shaded history." Ruby said with a slight smile, leaving a stunned Blake behind.

After the small discussion Ruby had gone straight to her room to find Neo performing exercises, she was currently doing a handstand with a single hand and her legs doing the splits in the air.

Ruby moved silently in the room so she wouldn't distract Neo, laying down on the bed she waited for Neo to finish.

"I can talk and exercise at the same time." Neo said calmly.

"I know." Ruby said while picking up a book next to the bed.

"Well I thought you would be asking about who I found." Neo said while at the same time moving her legs up towards the ceiling.

"Well I found Nightshade, or rather Blake not long ago." Ruby said while reading at the same time.

"Really? She got in then." Neo said as she lowered herself to the ground until she was parallel to the ground, holding herself up with one arm.

"She did, she also spoke to Weiss Schnee, mentioning about the questionable labour of her families business." Ruby informed her.

"Well that must have been interesting to see." Neo said, her voice straining slightly.

Ruby just hummed in reply as she turned a page in her book, her attention almost completely focused on the book.

"Well I found someone interesting today, can you guess who?" Neo asked.

"Nope." Ruby stated.

"Well she's a tall blonde girl with quite a large chest and uses shotgun gauntlets. She's quite something as well, when I went to speak to her she was quite cheerful and hugging with her friends a lot as well." Neo said playfully.

"Oh really?" Ruby said, slightly disinterested.

"Are you even listening to me?" Neo asked.

"Of course dear." Ruby said once more sounding disinterested.

Frowning at Ruby, whose attention was purely on her book and not on what Neo was saying. Smirking Neo stood up as she came up with a plan.

Ruby's attention was focused on her book to the point she hadn't noticed Neo not talking and moving around the room.

It wasn't until she felt a weight against her stomach and legs, unsure what it came from it wasn't until she felt hands move underneath her shirt.

"Huh?" Ruby said as she put down her book until she felt fingers push into her ribs causing her to throw her book and squirmed on the bed.

Neo was smirking as she caused Ruby to move but was stuck underneath Neo's weight on her body, "Payback." Neo said evilly.

Before Ruby could stop Neo the girl's hands started to attack Ruby's sides, causing Ruby to squirm underneath the shorter girl.

After five minutes of pure tickling torture Ruby was finally given a chance to breathe again while Neo had her head against Ruby's chest, one hand stroking Ruby's head and her ears.

This caused Ruby to softly whimper in delight as she felt her ears being played with as she felt Neo massage the sore ears from being hidden under hear headphones all the time.

Neo smiled as she leaned her head against Ruby's chest as the wolf wrapped her arms tightly around Neo, whimpering softly in delight as Neo kept massaging her ears.

The two girls soon feel asleep with Neo on top of Ruby who had wrapped her protectively in her arms alongside nuzzling into the girls neck.

 **A/N**

 **Ok so some ideas have been borrowed from other theories about Aura and the like from other places, although the nature of it is sound. You see it often in films and games where a shield is used differently to be an offensive weapon instead of defensive and I can give some examples of that.**

 **Not much more to say really, this will be irregular updates because I simply do not know when I will write more for this as it seems like it's going to be a long story so I might focus on a couple other stories I can get done fairly quickly.**

 **Last note I have gotten a PS4 and been playing a lot of Destiny however I don't have any friends, meaning I can't do strikes without searching for random people but I'm not a big fan of that. Also I really want to do the raids and such so if anyone would like to play my PSN name is RavenRose8 and just add me and I'll accept. I have a mic and a level 25-26 hunter at the moment.**

 **Anyway thanks for reading and please review, they make me release stuff faster.**


	4. Chapter 4

_She dwells with beauty, beauty that must die._

 _And joy, whose hand is ever at his lips._

 _His soul shall taste the sadness of her might._

 _And be among her cloudy trophies hung._

 **Chapter 4-**

The next morning the two girls woke up slowly the next day, a feeling of pure content settling into both girls as they were relaxed for one of the few moments they were able to be with everything Ruby did.

Eventually they had to get out of bed and get ready for initiation which was that morning, the two got showered and dressed with a quiet habit.

Once they had showered separately and dressed for the day ahead, Ruby attached her weapon onto her back while debating with herself about wearing her red cloak.

Neo who had just finished putting her boots on as she picked up her umbrella, twirling it around in her hand, "Ruby?" Neo asked.

"Do you think the red cloak would give me away?" Ruby asked.

"I doubt anyone would realise who you are, maybe some suspicions but you'll be fine." Neo assured Ruby.

"I guess, are you ok?" Ruby asked as she put her cloak around her neck and letting it cover herself, and placed her headphones over her wolf ears, to keep them hidden and kept down.

"I am, but I'm worried about initiation." Neo said, moving into Ruby's waiting arms.

"Are you worried that we won't be paired up?" Ruby asked, stroking Neo's short hair gently to comfort the girl who always worried that Ruby was going to leave her.

"Don't worry Neo, I don't plan on leaving you and there's ways we can become partners anyway." Ruby explained, offering words of comfort to her girlfriend.

Neo nodded her head once more saying, "Are you sure?" Neo asked, still worried.

Ruby smiled as she kissed Neo passionately on the lips, "I'm sure Neo, I love you and I'm not going anywhere." Ruby said with a soft smile.

Neo had a light dusting of pink on her cheeks as she buried her face into Ruby's neck to hide her embarrassment.

"Come on, we better get down there." Ruby said, gently urging Neo to walk.

The pair made their way hand in hand down towards the launch pads, they discovered they were the last to arrive and they drowned out Ozpin as he explained everything to the students, as they already knew what was going to happen.

As the first students started to get launched in the air Ruby leaned over to Neo and gave her a chaste kiss and a reassuring smile as she was launched into the air in front of Neo.

Immediately after being launched in the air Ruby started to fire her weapon as she slowed down enough for Neo to catch up.

Neo was able to teleport just in front of Ruby in the air as she spotted a Grimm bird she could land on top of as a marker.

Ruby grabbed Neo into her arms, getting the girl to wrap her arms around Ruby as she started to fire behind her to pick up speed even further.

As the ground started to grow closer Neo let go of Ruby as she opened up her umbrella, letting herself float down to the ground below while Ruby deployed her scythe and anchored herself into a tree, letting the weapon bite into the tree to slow her down.

The two girls landed in front of each other and were quick to look up into each other's eyes to seal the deal that they would be partners for the next four years.

"So seems like we're stuck with each other for the next four years." Ruby teased.

Neo just slapped Ruby's arm with a smile saying, "Come on, and let's go get this over with." Neo said, walking in the direction of the ruins.

As the girls were walking they heard a loud howling sound nearby, signalling the fact there were Beowolves nearby.

Dropping into a low crouch Ruby acted on pure instinct as she let loose a howl of her own in return, her tone challenging in return.

Neo standing beside Ruby knew what was going to happen as she brought her umbrella up, waiting for the Grimm to show.

It didn't take long as the first Beowolf came sprinting out of the trees in response to Ruby's call, Neo blocked the creatures first strike as she pushed the arm down and away from her she spun around drawing the blade inside the umbrella's handle before pushing it into the neck of the creature.

She twisted her blade before pulling it out of the breast as it died, dissolving into the air around it while more Beowolves came barrelling out of the forest behind the first one Neo killed.

Ruby had forsaken her weapon instead using her hands where her nails had turned into sharp claws as she attacked the creatures, ripping out necks and even tearing heads off the creatures as she killed them.

The two worked together in perfect unison as Neo would block attacks made by the Beowolves while Ruby would attack them while they were stunned, Neo would kill any sneaking up on Ruby at the same time.

The two were working flawlessly until finally all of the Beowolves were dead and the two were standing side by side, barely sweating.

"You ok?" Neo asked.

"Fine. You?" Ruby breathed out, getting her body back under control.

"I'm good, ok to move on?" Neo asked.

"Yeah, I'm good. Let's get this over with." Ruby said, standing up straighter as both girls began to walk once more.

They didn't come across anymore Grimm until they reached the ruins where they found different chess pieces.

Neo chose a golden horse chest piece, handing it over to Ruby who put it into one of her pouches but as they were able to leave they saw more students arrive.

One pair came riding an Ursa into the clearing while another was chased by a Deathstalker while a group of three came with a Nevermore in the sky after them.

Sighing to herself Ruby looked towards Neo giving her a look saying, 'Seriously?' as she saw all the creatures coming at them.

"Neo!" Ruby shouted out while the other students got their relics.

Neo jumped forward holding out her umbrella towards the Deathstalker who smashed into it but only to find out that the group was no longer there.

"What was that?" Jaune asked, surprised.

"It's Neo's semblance, come on we need to get back anyway we don't have to beat them." Ruby stated, getting everyone to start moving as the Deathstalker realised what happened.

All of the students started to run away from the Grimm as they reached a ruined area with a stone bridge and tower at one end.

Running forward the students all split up, JNPR stopped at the start of the bridge as they turned to fight the Deathstalker while RWBYN dealt with the Nevermore.

The fight ended with Ruby decapitating the Nevermore with the other girls help to launch her into the air to catch the creature's neck.

When they reached the academy once more, Neo helping to transport the students back up the cliff they were quickly checked for any problems and then the process of teams being done.

When they announced the teams and the leaders there was surprise when Ruby was named the leader of team RWBYN, which was oddly a five person team.

For the next two weeks all of the new students were slowly getting into the habit of lessons and the teachers, alongside all the new work.

These two weeks were the most peaceful for Ruby and Neo as they hadn't left the school but as an important date was quickly approaching it would change.

Exactly two weeks after the start of term Ruby and Neo had boarded an airship to take them to Patch, they were going to see Ruby's uncle Qrow while at the same time doing something else.

While they left confused teammates behind and knew they would be questioned when they came back three days later, they didn't care too much.

* * *

The trip to Patch took almost ten hours to complete by airship but when they arrived they were met by Ruby's uncle.

Qrow wore black trousers with black shoes and a grey and white shirt with a tail on the back and an old tattered black and red cloak.

He had short black and grey hair that was slightly spiked up around the front, he met his niece and her girlfriend off the airship with a wide smile.

He hugged his niece while Neo stood awkwardly to the side until she was pulled into the hug as well, with Qrow saying.

"Come on Neo, you're family." Qrow said welcoming.

Neo blushed but accepted the hug which lasted almost two full minutes until they all broke away with Qrow asking, "So how's my little pup?" He asked.

"I'm good uncle, what about you?" Ruby asked.

"Good, I'm good been busy teaching the students at Signal with the term just starting but they understand why I need the next couple days off." Qrow explained, "Anyway, how are you two settling in at Beacon?" He asked.

"It's going good, we've been put in a team together as a five woman team and according to Ruby there's another Faunus on our team." Neo explained.

"Really? What type?" Qrow asked.

"Cat, which suits her perfectly although she hasn't told our team yet." Ruby explained.

"Ah well I can understand that, who else do you have on your team?" Qrow asked.

"We have Weiss Schnee which is interesting and a woman named Yang Xiao Long who uses shotgun gauntlets." Ruby explained.

"Really? Now that's interesting and I'm surprised you don't know Yang." Qrow said.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"Yang's your cousin, my brother Tai is her father which makes you the girl's cousin, then again you and Summer always stayed away from the rest of the family." Qrow said.

"I guess I'll need to have a look into my family more on the other side." Ruby explained, knowing her focus was on trying to find her out who her father was when she wasn't fighting the White Fang.

"You should, I can set up a meeting with Tai and some of the family to introduce you." Qrow offered.

"Thank you but I don't want to just yet, I want to have a look myself first." Ruby said.

Her uncle and girlfriend understood this, ever since her mother died she was untrusting of most people and the only people she really trusted were her uncle and Neo.

The rest of that first day was spent resting and catching up with each other as they returned to Qrow's modest home.

That night Ruby and Neo slept in one of the guest rooms together and the next morning Qrow cooked breakfast for the two girls who woke up slowly.

Once they had eaten breakfast Ruby got dressed and ready into her Red Reaper outfit as it was dubbed by Qrow, once she was done and making sure Aria was ok with Neo she set off.

Qrow was planning on showing Neo Signal academy as he had found out she had never seen it, after that he was going to take her around Patch town.

Ruby on the other hand was trekking through the islands snowy forest in an attempt to reach a cliff edge where a single stone rested.

She rested by the stone with her feet hanging off the cliff as she sat next to the stone talking, "Hey mum, it's another year without you." Ruby started to say.

"Neo's doing good, we both are. We've been accepted into Beacon Academy whose headmaster knew you. He's called Ozpin and he says he might know Dad, I still haven't found out who it is yet but I want to." Ruby explained.

"Anyway I just wanted to see you again, it's getting easier each year with Neo's help but I still miss you." Ruby said, wiping away her tears.

"I'll come by and visit again soon I promise." Ruby said, leaning down to kiss the stone.

Ruby stood up as she started her long walk back to the town, it was already past midday when she had finished with talking with her mother but it wasn't long into her walk back that she heard something.

She heard the howls of hunting Beowolves and dying screams of humans. Her ears tried to perk up from underneath her hood and headphones but they couldn't.

Using her semblance to reach the screams her weapon was already deployed and ready to be used at a moment's notice.

When she reached the site of the screams Ruby spotted over two dozen Beowolves in a large clearing.

Ruby saw the blood and torn bodies of humans laying around everywhere but she spotted a woman in a pure white cloak attempting to fight off the Beowolves with a normal rapier but struggling to do so as her left arm was bleeding heavily.

Ruby's protective instincts kicked in as she rushed towards the Grimm, making quick work of the Grimm as her blade sung as she killed all of the Grimm.

When she had finished she found herself face to face to the woman she had saved, or rather the woman was at Ruby's face which was hidden by her hood.

As Ruby's attention turned to the prone woman she instantly recognised her and schooled her confused look into her Reaper mask. Ruby knew full well that only her mother's resting place was in the forest, and only Qrow and Neo knew where it was, neither of which would of told this woman.

"Why is Mizu Schnee out here in the middle of nowhere? In a Grimm infested forest with incompetent guards." Ruby stated emotionless, her blade sticking in the ground near the prone woman's body.

 **A/N**

 **So Mizu is an OC as we don't know the Schnee family names, she and Winter will play an important role in the story and to some degree Weiss as well although not as much early on. The next chapter or two will be a little heavy on the talking but that will quickly go.**

 **This story is very much one I'll be in for the long haul, I will work on my other stories when I have inspiration to do so, until then this will be the main story I have.**

 **A note for anyone reading Masters of Fate, that one will not be continued. It is too much for me and I believe I have overstretched myself a little with the idea on that one.**

 **Anyway that's pretty much it, so thanks for reading and see you next time.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5-**

 _"Why is Mizu Schnee out here in the middle of nowhere? In a Grimm infested forest with incompetent guards." Ruby stated emotionless, her blade sticking in the ground near the prone woman's body._

"I didn't know." The woman, Mizu said softly, her voice weak.

Ruby was about to question the woman more but then her eyes rolled back into her head as she fell face forward.

Ruby held out her arms to catch the woman as her weapon fell to the floor next to them, this gave Ruby her first real look at the woman in front of her.

She had long white hair like her daughters but oddly the tips of which were a light red that looked natural, she held the same blue eyes but again they seemed to have hints of something more in them but Ruby wasn't able to tell.

Ruby saw the wound on her arm bleeding more profoundly, taking out some gauze from her belt and applied it onto the wound tying it around with some bandages but knowing she could do little more out here she picked up her weapon and used her semblance to get home quicker.

* * *

Mizu didn't know where she was, the last thing she remembered were her guards all dying and being surrounded by Beowolves.

Mizu sat up with a start when she remembered the Red Reaper coming to save her, her hand instantly went towards where her weapon would be only to find it empty.

The world slowly came into focus as she saw she was on a bed in a small room, the top half of her body had the clothes stripped away but a new shirt had been placed over the top, and her left arm was emitting a dull ache.

Looking at her arm she saw bandages covering her arm and she remembered being cut by the claws of a Beowolf.

She turned to see a girl sitting in a chair with a book on her lap, she had odd coloured hair and she sat looking at Mizu with an amused smile on her face.

"Ah you're awake, that's good. How do you feel?" The girl asked.

"Who are you?" Mizu asked before she could stop herself.

"My name's Neo." Neo supplied.

"Where am I?" Mizu asked.

"You are in a man named Qrow's house, he is a teacher at Signal." Neo explained.

"Qrow? How did I get to Qrow's house?" Mizu asked quickly, remembering her former teammate.

Before Neo could answer both of them heard shouting coming from downstairs, namely Ruby and Qrow.

"Why the hell was she there?" They both could hear Ruby's voice but only Neo knew her true name while Mizu recognised it as Reapers voice from earlier.

They heard a mumbled reply back from Qrow, quickly followed by Ruby's next one, "Her guards were shit, and didn't know how to use their Aura. So why the hell was she out there? There's only one thing out there and she shouldn't even know it exists." Ruby shouted.

As they seemed to quieten down Neo turned to Mizu with an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry about Ruby, she's very touchy about certain things and well where she found you doesn't help matters." Neo explained.

"That's the Red Reaper." Mizu stated.

"She is, but she prefers the name Ruby." Neo informed her.

"Ruby? I always liked that name." Mizu said as an offhanded comment.

"I've learnt to love that name, but I digress I need to know how you are feeling." Neo said with a loving smile on her face.

"I feel fine, my arm aches a little but it's only dull." Mizu said.

"That's good, we gave you direct Aura injections so the wound should be pretty much healed by now." Neo informed her.

"How long was I out?" Mizu asked next.

"About ten hours since Ruby got you here, so about ten hours give or take a couple minutes." Neo said.

"My husband, I told him I'd call him when I finished and it's been too long." Mizu said, worried.

"Don't worry, Qrow already spoke to him when he called your scroll and he's aware of what happened but he sent your daughter, Winter to come and get you." Neo told the woman.

"Oh" Mizu said, unsure how to react.

"Now that that's all sorted, and before Ruby gets up here. Would you care to explain why you were in the forest with ill-trained protection?" Neo asked.

"Um." Mizu said, unsure if she could really tell the truth to a girl she had never met before, only two people knew the truth and one of them was her and the other was long dead.

"It's alright if you don't want to tell me but Ruby will want answer, as I said she is very protective of that area." Neo told her.

"Why is that?" Mizu asked, curious.

"It's not for me to say, but I'm sure she'll be here in a minute." Neo explained.

Just as she had said almost a minute later Ruby, still with her cloak and hood up covering her head and face still.

Before Ruby even reached the bed Neo had turned to look at her, Mizu saw the silent conversation taking place between them but throughout the entire thing Neo didn't lose the smile.

Mizu was used to reading body language with her husband and the endless meetings she had to do, she saw Neo clearly telling Ruby to relax and calm down while Ruby was trying to hold out but after a full minute Ruby finally relented.

Ruby sat down calmly on the edge of the bed and while she kept her hood up her whole demeanour seemed to relax.

Mizu watched as Neo entwined their hands together causing Ruby's body language to almost melt and completely relax but it was clear Ruby could change in an instance.

"How are you feeling Miss Schnee?" Ruby asked quietly.

Schooling her emotions she was shocked that Ruby wasn't more aggressive but it was clear that whatever Neo had said changed her attitude.

"I am fine thank you, and thank you for saving me." Mizu expressed.

"You're welcome Miss Schnee." Ruby said.

"Please call me Mizu, I don't like being called Miss Schnee." Mizu stated.

"As you wish Miss Mizu, now I must ask what you were doing out in the forests today. There is nothing there except trees, snow and Grimm." Ruby asked gently.

"Why were you there Ruby? If there is nothing there." Mizu challenged.

"I was training." Came a readied response by Ruby.

"Please don't insult my intelligence Ruby, I deal with board members who try to lie to me on a daily basis alongside my husband, so please don't try to lie to me now." Mizu stated.

"I was visiting my mother, now why were you there?" Ruby stated coldly, which resulted in a disapproving gaze from Neo.

"I visit that area each year when I can get enough time to do so, it used to be somewhere a close friend of mine spent time and I would join her." Mizu stated.

"If you went there a lot then why were you so ill-prepared then?" Ruby asked.

"I uh, believed myself to be prepared enough as a trained huntress but I seem to be out of practise." Mizu said, embarrassed at the fact.

"I see." Ruby said, "I assume you would know who I am, correct?"

"You are the Red Reaper." Mizu stated.

"I am, and you know my real name. So the question is, what are you going to do?" Ruby asked, her voice was calm and relaxed but there was an underlying threat.

"Nothing, I know who you are and have known of you for years but I was only aware that a woman was fighting the White Fang that was it." Mizu stated.

"Twenty." Ruby stated.

"What?" Mizu asked, confused.

"Twenty attempts on your life and that of your family in the last ten years all made by the White Fang." Ruby stated.

"What?" Mizu shouted as she sat up, "We've never heard of these. I know the White Fang hate us but I didn't know they attempted to kill us." Mizu said, scared for her family.

"Each attack I stopped before they happened, the closest of which got in a mile of your houses wall." Ruby stated with an earie calm.

"But how did you know?" Mizu asked.

"I have my ways of finding out things about the White Fang. But that is two attempts each year but I've stopped them before they happened, do you wish to know why?" Ruby asked.

"Of course."

"You are not evil, nor are you daughters and you do not deserve to die however it is different with your husband. You would be surprised what sort of things you can find out." Ruby said and the other woman could hear the smile in her voice.

"What do you know?" Mizu asked, worried.

"You carry the Schnee name but it is your husband in charge of what should be your company for the simple fact that he is a man and it is seen that a woman shouldn't be in charge but you whisper in his ear as much as you can but you are seemingly unaware of what he does." Ruby stated.

"That is where you are wrong Ruby, I am aware of what he does but as you can understand those who run the company alongside my husband. I know they are sexist and bigoted people but as a woman I can't do much other than try to misdirect them and help where I can." Mizu said.

"Help how?" Neo asked, speaking up for the first time since Ruby had come in.

"I help the Faunus used as slave labour by freeing them but if I can't try to give them food and water, I have a large amount of support with guards and staff of my company and even a couple among the board and currently trying to seize control of the company." Mizu told the two women.

"Really? How do you plan on doing that?" Neo asked.

"An extremely hostile takeover. I plan on divorcing my husband while having him arrested alongside almost all of the board members and corrupt guards in one swoop." Mizu informed them.

"I see." Neo said, the smile never leaving her face.

"You already knew all of this didn't you?" Mizu asked.

"We did, but it was only because you contacted a few Hunters. Like Qrow and Ozpin that we were able to find out." Ruby informed her.

"Why did you ask me about it then?" Mizu asked, unsure.

"We wanted to know if we can trust you, Ruby shared something to get you to trust us and we wanted to see if you would return the gesture." Neo informed her.

"I see, but why do you want that trust?" Mizu asked once more.

"Because you know my name and I will reveal my identity to you, however I wish to know I can trust you not to tell anyone." Ruby said.

Ruby reached up to remove her hood and reveal her long red and black hair and her soft but defined features and silver eyes, her headphones remained firmly in place for a moment before she finally removed them to show the other woman her red tipped wolf ears.

Mizu grew pale as she looked at the girl, recognition at who she looked like and the similarities were scary to the woman.

She couldn't have questioned Ruby more because the three women all heard a loud knocking at the door before shortly being kicked open.

Ruby was out of the door before Mizu even heard the sound of the door being kicked in and Neo followed quick behind Ruby.

Mizu climbed up out of bed as she let her arm be limp at her side as she slowly walked out of the room, she spotted three other doors to her left but she turned to her right, towards the stairs and the noise coming from below.

When she reached the top of the stairs she had a clear view to the door and she saw Neo standing by the open door, calling out.

"Ruby!"

Mizu kept walking until she finally reached the door, what she saw outside shocked her but she also seemed to predict it.

Winter was standing outside, clearly the one who kicked in the door and now Ruby had her large scythe around her neck, she was half crouched on the floor balancing her weapon on her shoulders as she was ready to take off her head.

"Ruby! Release!" Neo shouted out at Ruby, her voice commanding and intimidating.

Ruby's face flashed with a brief second of some sort of emotion before she released Winter from her weapon as it collapsed down and then a flash of rose petals found Ruby in Neo's waiting arms.

"Now that is all sorted, please come inside and sit down." Neo said, not worried about the girl wrapped around her body, Ruby strangely had her arms and legs all tied around Neo as her face was buried into her neck.

Neo directed the two Schnee's inside the house and to the living room to get comfortable while she made some tea for them all.

During all of this Ruby stayed attached to Neo like a backpack while Neo acted as if nothing had happened, once sitting down in the living room Neo had gotten Ruby to climb off her and sit down next to her.

"Now Ruby, you have something to say correct?" Neo asked sweetly.

"I'm sorry for my actions." Ruby said quietly but clear enough.

Winter smiled at the girl as she was now calm herself, "Its fine, I'm sorry for kicking in your door." Winter replied.

Ruby had her headphones back up again hiding her wolf ears, making Mizu doubt she had seen them but she noticed a slight twitch underneath the headphones.

"Now that that is all sorted, introductions. I'm Neo, I spoke to you over the phone earlier. Next to me is Ruby." Neo said with a smile, clearly acting the part of the host.

Winter nodded in response saying, "I'm Winter Schnee, and it's a pleasure to meet you." Winter said.

"Mizu, are you ok? You looked a little pale earlier." Neo asked.

"I am fine thank you. I believe it was just everything catching up to me." Mizu replied.

"It has been a long day. Why don't we all retire for a little while before dinner? There are two spare rooms upstairs you can rest in." Neo offered, ever playing the host.

"I think that would be for the best." Winter said, speaking up on her mother's behalf.

"I'll show you the rooms." Neo said with a smile, standing up as she took the two women out of the room while Ruby remained behind.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Ok don't get used to this, it's only because I wanted to ask something to people that I'm updating so fast.**

 **Including this chapter I have about 14,000 words written and I've only just reached the part where Blake tells everyone she's a Faunus in the show story line. I'm also working on Surfing Blues alongside this story to get it finished.**

 **But the main reason I've updated is because I want to write some other things, like one-shots and the like I've got one sort of written but likely to change. But I'd also like to hear ideas/prompts from you lot, it will be Ruby x Neo stuff although depending what it is I might be open to it. It'll be about two thousand words or so depending on different factors but if you have an idea either PM or leave a review.**

 **Anyway thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Important note at the bottom.**

' _What about us,_

 _Isn't it enough?_

 _No we're not in paradise_

 _This is who we are_

 _This is what we've got_

 _No, it's not our paradise_

 _But it's all we want_

 _And it's all that we're fighting for_

 _But it's not paradise' –What about us? Within Temptation._

 **Chapter 6-**

Three hours later Winter and Mizu walked downstairs following the smell of food filling the house, when they came to the source of the food they found Ruby and Neo working effortlessly around the kitchen together, stealing touches and kisses in between different tasks.

The Schnee women watched the scene play out for a few minutes until they were finally spotted by Neo who smiled at them and directed the pair to the dining room while saying that dinner would be ready shortly.

Upon entering the room Mizu was assaulted by Qrow who was sitting at the table playing with his scroll. He engulfed the woman in a tight hug telling her, "Mizu it's been so long." He said happily.

Mizu laughed at Qrow's actions as the normally quiet and stoic man was this happy and excited with seeing his friend again.

"It's been too long Qrow. I'm sorry we couldn't meet again under better circumstances." Mizu said. "This is my eldest daughter Winter, Winter this old man is Qrow an old team member of mine and a great friend." Mizu said.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr Qrow." Winter said politely, offering her hand out.

Qrow laughed as she hugged the younger woman, "Stop being so stiff. You're Mizu's daughter so you're always welcome in this house. Both of you are." Qrow said happily.

Winter was unsure how to react but seeing her mother laughing she relaxed slightly and said, "Thank you very much for the offer." She said happily.

Ruby and Neo both walked into the room carrying plates filled with food as she laid them down at five of the six places.

"Dinner is served." Neo said directing everyone to sit down.

Just as everyone was about to start eating a robotic female voice started to speak as she asked, "Mother, may I join you?" The voice asked.

"Of course Aria." Ruby said quietly.

In a small flash of light a figure appeared sitting in the sixth seat, she had long pale pink hair with two braids, one on each side of her face. She wore a black vest top and pink skirt while she had white and pink boots on, with one leg having a long black knee length sock on while on the other one she had a black ban on.

"Hello Aria, how are you?" Neo asked politely as she started to eat her food.

"I'm good mother. I've been busy getting the data you requested all together." Aria informed her, eating the electronic dinner she had in front of her.

"Who's that? Is she an AI?" Winter asked, sounding a little excited at the prospect.

"She is. Aria please meet Winter and Mizu Schnee. Winter and Mizu this is Aria, my AI and also daughter." Ruby introduced.

"Daughter?" Mizu asked in surprise.

"Yes, I created her and she sees both Neo and I as her mother's so yes, daughter." Ruby said kindly, with a gentleness that Mizu only saw when talking about Neo.

"I see. Well hello Aria, it is nice to meet you." Mizu said with a smile before she started eating herself.

Winter had a large smile on her face as she greeted the AI but also turned to look at Ruby asking quickly, "You have got to show me how you did it. I've never seen anything like this before." She said excitedly.

"I can't. I don't wish for this to get out of hand." Ruby said softly as she was eating.

The rest of the meal was spent in idle chatter about various topics and when it was complete Qrow took out the dishes to wash them up, leaving the women to talk.

"Aria could you dim the lights and project the data please?" Ruby asked.

"Of course." Aria said as the lights dimmed and a world map came up with various red and black marks doted around the entire map alongside green marks and Grimm symbols.

"What is all of this?" Winter asked, looking at the map.

Ruby ignored the question as she looked to Mizu, "Do you trust Winter?" She asked.

"Of course I do." Mizu said quickly.

"This as you can tell is a map of Remnant. Highlighted are areas that the Grimm inhabit. The green marks are those of the Hunter and Huntress locations who are supportive. Red is the known White Fang bases and black represent White Fang bases that have been destroyed." Ruby explained.

"How do you know all of this? And how have you got access to all of this? Half of these bases aren't known to anyone. And supportive of what?" Winter asked in quick fire questions.

"I know this because I took out those bases myself and mapped the locations of Grimm nests that are not widely known. As to the Hunter and Huntress locations that is a recent addition thanks to Ozpin providing me access to their database allowing Aria to get these locations. I also have informants inside the White Fang feeding me recent information." Ruby explained.

"So why are you showing us this? What's your plan?" Winter asked.

"My plan is to take out the White Fang for good, but also to get better Faunus rights. If that doesn't happen the White Fang would just return and most likely stronger. To do that I need the support of the strongest groups on the planet. The Hunters are one such group but they alone won't help." Ruby said.

"So you want the Schnee's to help back the Faunus Rights plan?" Winter stated.

"Yes. I was planning on making contact with Miss Mizu when I was closer, however the Fates have played it out differently." Ruby said.

"Why me?" Mizu asked.

"Why not you? You are the one who carries the Schnee name alongside the fact that you are trying to stop your husband form being too extreme with the Faunus. As such you would be the person to speak to." Neo informed the pair.

"I see. How do you know I carry the name and not my husband? He is the man in charge of the entire company." Mizu said.

"We have our ways. You were a Huntress, like your daughter is doing now however you had to give up that dream in a few short years to marry your current husband and with family tradition it is the male that must run the company as it is seen that women cannot do it." Neo stated.

"How do you know all of that?" Winter asked in surprise.

"There is not much that escapes our notice. We wish to work together, if you promise to help aid us in our mission and to create better rights for Faunus then we shall support you when you decide to take over your company." Neo offered to them.

"Why would we accept your offer?" Winter asked carefully.

"Because with the Reaper by your side, alongside the Hunters and police forces you will not be stopped in your takeover." Ruby stated.

"Why are you so interested in achieving Faunus Rights though? Not many humans would do that." Winter asked suspiciously.

Neo turned to Ruby as another silent conversation played between the two as they seemed to debate if the Schnee women read the eye movements and turning of their heads correctly.

Ruby reached up for the headphones hidden amongst her hair to reveal two black wolf ears with red tips, as she wiggled them around after being hidden by the headphones for so long.

"I am a wolf Faunus as you can tell so it is a personal issue to I, and Neo is my fiancé so we both have interests in this. Other than being decent people." Ruby informed them both.

"Mother I have the information on your extended family you asked for." Aria interrupted the four of them.

"Aria could you please store that data and jump please." Ruby said kindly but her voice was firm.

Aria nodded as she vanished from the table and away from the four women.

"Our plan is to systematically eliminate the White Fang bases in the different Kingdoms. Currently it may seem we're taking random bases down but instead it is all planned. There is one person or rather a group of people we are hunting." Neo explained as she manipulated the holographic projection to bring up photos of different people.

"The two men, are Roman Torchwick and Mercury Black. Roman seems to be the top person just under Cinder Fall." A picture of a woman came up to the forefront. "She is the one leading the White Fang currently, we do not know her current location but I have fought her on multiply occasions but each time she has escaped." Ruby informed them all.

"But she's human, correct? How is she leading the White Fang?" Winter asked, surprised that a human could be leading the White Fang.

"We believe she is working alongside this man." A man with short red hair and a mask appeared on the screen in front of them. "Adam Tarsus, leader of the White Fang. We believe there is some sort of plan for Vale involving a large amount of Dust but we are unsure what exactly the plan is." Ruby informed them all.

"I see, so what is your current plan on dealing with this?" Winter asked.

"What it was before. Systematically take out the bases, weakening the whole structure and maybe we strike a goldmine of intelligence or maybe we have to wait for them to make their next move. Either way we have things to do in between now." Ruby said.

"How do you mean?" Winter asked.

"We're students at Beacon Academy, or rather we entered into an agreement with Ozpin. We have full Hunter support behind us and I will teach some classes to a select few students, mainly about combat but we'll see what happens." Ruby answered.

"I see, so what is your plan now?" Winter asked.

"Now? Bed I think, then tomorrow we need to return to Beacon as I have my first class tomorrow." Ruby informed them.

Almost as if on cue Qrow entered back into the room telling them the time and saying about heading to bed, but he asked for Mizu to remain behind.

Qrow didn't speak for a few minutes as he waited for the others to be upstairs and out of listening range before speaking, "Aria could you not listen in to the conversation please and also silence the room so no one outside can hear us?" Qrow almost ordered.

"Of course Uncle." Aria said before silence.

"She's Summer child isn't she?" Mizu asked quietly.

"She is. I didn't know about her until she suddenly arrived at my door, bloodied with a tear stricken face. That's where I learnt about what happened to her and Summer death." Qrow said coldly to the woman.

"Is she truly dead?" Mizu asked weakly.

"No body was found but it's been over ten years by now so I wouldn't get your hopes up." Qrow stated.

"I see." Mizu said quietly.

"She's been looking for her father for quite a while you know? She's asked me many times about anything related to him, but each time I tell her I don't know. She's looking into every available lead but it always turns up nothing. Like her father never wanted to be found." Qrow said.

"Why are you telling me this?" Mizu asked, looking at the man.

"Summer left Ruby everything, I've been told by Neo that she's actually quite rich. Rich enough to just vanish from the planet like Summer did all those years ago. We've always wondered why she vanished and where she went but now a new question is how Summer accumulated all that wealth as well. It was really strange." Qrow said.

"It was her choice." Mizu said weakly.

"Oh I don't doubt it. But some things just don't add up over the years. When we were in school and even afterwards you and Summer were always very close, pairing up together, working together and doing all sorts. Ozpin and I both thought you two were together but didn't want to tell us, so we respected your privacy." Qrow started saying.

"Then suddenly Summer vanished and about a month later you were married to that horrible man you call a husband. Ozpin and I both attended your wedding, although we tried to talk you out of it. But Summer was nowhere in sight and we quickly found she vanished, but it's odd that she didn't attend the wedding of her best friend." Qrow explained.

"So what? I invited her and she didn't bother to come." Mizu stated harshly.

"Really? You got married about nineteen years ago, Ruby is eighteen years old. With when her birthday is, it places her conception just a little before your wedding, when Summer disappeared. A little odd don't you think?" Qrow said.

"So what? It's just a coincidence that she got pregnant at the same time I was getting married." Mizu said violently, standing up and glaring at the man.

"Summer left everything to Ruby but she took her father's identity to the grave. She gave me a letter telling me on Ruby's sixtieth birthday I was to show her the letter. I'm assuming you know what's in the letter?" Qrow asked, smiling slightly at the woman.

"What do you want me to say? That I married some asshole just to appease my dead father who was so old in his traditions I'm surprised the company is still together. Do you want me to tell you that she'll find my name in that letter detailing the shit I put Summer through?" Mizu practically shouted.

Qrow said nothing as he just looked at Mizu, waiting to see her explain her side of the story, not letting on about how much he knew.

"I broke her heart when I told her what my father was making me doing. He had this man all lined up and ready to take over the company but needed me to marry him in order to do so. I was threatened with being disowned from the family, do you know what that is like? I knew if I didn't marry him things would only get worse and I told Summer it was too dangerous to keep a secret relationship while I was married to that man." Mizu shouted.

"She asked me to have a child with her. It might seem impossible on the outside but Dust is amazing and it gave us that chance. She claimed it was those bloody Fate's she always spoke about but I gave her a child. I have two children already caught up in my horrible family and I have a child barely fifty metres away who is the daughter of the woman I love, and I didn't even know until today that she was even alive." Mizu shouted, her voice breaking as she started to cry out.

Qrow was silent as he moved to hug the woman, allowing her to cry for the seventeen years of loveless marriage. The grief of losing the woman she loved and simply for the entire situation surrounding everything and now for her child who didn't know she existed.

As Mizu calmed down enough to stop crying Qrow spoke up, "I never gave her the letter, didn't have the chance to and I didn't know what she would do. She still doesn't know, you should tell her." Qrow said gently.

"But how? How do I apologise for not being there? For letting her go through everything she has been through." Mizu said with a stutter.

"She won't care. All she cares about is knowing who her father is, I think she believes they're dead but she still wants to know." Qrow informed her.

"But how do I tell her? I can't just walk upstairs and say, 'I'm your father, I left your mother to marry a man who is as evil as the Grimm.' Can I?" Mizu stated.

"Well I suggest you don't put it like that, but you will need to tell her at some point. I was supposed to give her the letter a few weeks ago but this is the first time I've seen her since her birthday." Qrow said, attempting to cheer the woman up slightly.

"Why was she really in the forest? She said she was visiting Summer but she's dead, isn't she?" Mizu asked.

"She is, but I still hold onto that little piece of hope she's still alive as no body was ever found. But her grave is on the cliff at the edge of the forest. Ruby goes there every year on the day she died." Qrow informed her.

"She wanted to be buried there?" Mizu asked quietly.

"Yes, she said in her Will that the place held big significance in her life so she wanted to be buried there." Qrow told her.

"I see. Summer and I would go to that forest and cliff to get away from everything and just spend time together, be that training or other activities. I go back there when I can in hopes of finding her there." Mizu said weakly.

"That explains why you were there today. Lucky that Ruby was there as well. Anyway I think we should head to bed, sleep on the idea of telling Ruby and we'll see in the morning." Qrow said gently, helping Mizu get upstairs and into her room.

 **A/N**

 **Couple housework things really.**

 **First thing and main thing is this. I love all my reviews, I read all of them and even if I don't response I still read them and take it to heart what people think, it really brightens my day and warms my heart when I see positive reviews and I've been so lucky to not have any negative reviews except some simple criticisms which I happily acknowledge.**

 **One thing I've seen happen a few times however is where people either mention getting a Beta, which I've done before but it just didn't work out well for my style of writing and took quite a while. Secondly if you wish to say something is wrong with my grammar, instead of just saying that I kindly ask that you tell me what's wrong otherwise I have to go through the process of sending a PM asking what is wrong. So unless you actually point out what's wrong with my grammar I kindly ask you not to mention it. Thank you.**

 **Another thing as I'm about ten thousand words ahead in the story I want to point out now, I do not hate Yang or anything however I do make her out as a bit of a bitch for some parts of the story this is for a reason and an element for it.**

 **Also I want suggestions for what Aria can called Ruby and Neo, one of them will remain Mother but I wish to have some thoughts over other ideas.**

 **Lastly I am planning to try and find people to run the new raid in Destiny over the weekend at some point and also do a Nightfall as I need it for a quest, if anyone wishes to take part then please add me on PSN with the username- RavenRose8. Thanks.**

 **Anyway that's it for this update, sorry for the long authors note and I've been waiting for so fucking long to reveal who Mizu is because she's going to be a part of some of my other stories as well. The big reveal to Ruby though will last a very very long time.**

 **Thanks for reading and hope you liked the update, until next time. ^_^**


	7. Chapter 7

" _War is cruelty. There's no use trying to reform it, the crueller it is the sooner it will be over."_

– _William Tecumseh Sherman_

 **Chapter 7-**

The next morning Mizu came down the stairs wearing barrowed clothes from Ruby who seemed to favour baggy clothes which was helpful for Mizu.

Walking down the stairs Mizu saw Qrow sitting at the table in the living room with a coffee and his scroll in hand.

"Good morning. Sleep well?" Qrow asked without looking up.

"I did thank you. Yourself?" Mizu asked as she heard the sounds of flesh hitting flesh happening outside.

"I slept good thanks. You had a package arrive this morning. I'm assuming that was intentional." Qrow said, putting down his scroll.

"Ah yes it was, it's a present for Ruby. Where is she by the way? And what is that sound? Is it fighting?" Mizu asked in quick fire.

"Already buying her approval?" Qrow teased with a smile, "She's outside with Neo, and they're going through their exercise for the morning." Qrow informed her.

Mizu walked over to the glass door that led into the garden area and spotted Winter watching the two women dressed in shorts and a shirt as they were fighting with each other, the pair looked equally matched but they were still beyond the skill level of many Hunters.

"She holds back." Qrow stated as he joined the woman watching the two train.

"What do you mean? They both seem so advance and I can barely keep track of their moves." Mizu said as she watched Ruby almost vanish from sight as she launched an attack at Neo's back but she watched as Neo blocked the strike as if knowing where it was going to come from.

"Ruby is the far superior fighter and she actually holds back a lot when fighting. Even now she's not using her entire ability in fighting Neo because it is simply training, that's it." Qrow informed her.

Mizu watched the two fighting as she watched the features on the girls faces change as if talking to each other as there was smiles, laughs and even some glares, mainly from Neo.

"Are they talking to each other? But their mouths aren't moving." Mizu said in out loud in thought.

"I'll allow them to explain that one, I don't really know the answer to that." Qrow said.

"I see. How long have they been going?" Mizu asked.

"Hmm I think they started around five this morning." Qrow said offhandedly.

Mizu was silent as she realised the pair had been going on for nearly three hours as they broke apart and seemed to talk to Winter before heading inside.

"Good morning Mizu, did you sleep well?" Neo asked kindly as she walked inside.

"I did thank you. Have you been up since five in the morning doing that?" Mizu asked.

"I was, Ruby was up earlier than that working on a few things before I woke up." Neo stated as Ruby walked up the stairs and towards the shower.

"Does she ever sleep?" Mizu asked, shocked at hearing how much Ruby was doing.

"She does, an hour or two a night normally. Sometimes I can get her to sleep through the night but it's rare." Neo informed her. "Anyway I need to shower and clean the sweat off me. We'll be leaving shortly after breakfast as Ruby's class is at one." Neo informed her before following Ruby upstairs.

Once everyone had eaten and gotten ready for the day ahead Qrow bid them goodbye so he could get to Signal for his classes for the day while kissing Ruby and Neo goodbye. This left the four women alone as they themselves were about to leave.

"We want to come with you back to Beacon." Winter said.

"Why?" Ruby asked.

"Well I want to see my sister and the school that she is going to and mother wishes to see Weiss as well but also Ozpin." Winter informed them.

"I have no issue with that." Neo said before turning to look at Ruby as she said, "Yes it'll be fine." Neo said before pausing as if listening to something before she spoke again. "Will we be back in time if you do?" Neo paused once more as she ignored the confused looks of the two Schnee women, "Ok then we can do it on the way." Neo finished.

"Um what are you talking about? And how are you doing that?" Mizu asked.

"Hmm. Oh There's something Ruby wants to check out on the way back to Beacon. It's in Vale so it's easily doable." Neo said, avoiding the second question.

"Yes Qrow did allow us to use one of the schools Bullhead's, don't worry it's the same pilot as before." Neo informed Ruby as she finished putting her boots on. "Are we all ready? The pilot is meeting us at the docks." Neo said.

"No Ruby, Qrow is sorting out the transportation of your bike." Neo stated calmly to the girl before they walked out of the door.

"You have a bike Ruby?" Winter asked.

"I do. It's at the house but I'm getting Uncle to transfer it over to Beacon so I can use it." Ruby informed her.

"What sort of bike do you have?" Winter asked as they walked, turning so she could look at Ruby while walking backwards.

"A modified Ducati 1098 with a dark red and black finish." Ruby stated.

"Modified? How?" Winter asked as they walked.

"Increased speed and better acceleration. Slightly larger seat and better handling as well." Ruby explained.

"Why do you need all that? And did you do it yourself?" Winter asked quickly.

Ruby turned to look at Neo as they were approaching the docks as she tipped her head in that direction.

"She did all of it herself, she more or less built it herself once she brought it. She spends a lot just working on it, improving it or making modifications to the bike. And she uses it quite often so wishes to improve it to almost perfection." Neo informed her, taking Ruby's place for speaking as the girl grew quiet and put her hood up.

"I see. Why almost perfection?" Winter asked.

"Because nothing is perfect." Aria informed them, her voice emitting from Ruby.

"We're here." Neo said, stopping any further line of questioning.

They approached a Bullhead that had a smaller passenger area compared to a normal Bullhead and the engines were slightly smaller and there were two more running along the fuselage.

Outside stood a tall woman dressed in a flight suit and her helmet in her hands as she stood smoking a cigarette. She had long pink hair that was tied up into a loose ponytail to keep it under control but still showed.

"Ladies." She said, tipping her head in their direction while Ruby went immediately over to the woman.

The woman seemed to sigh but held out her packet of cigarettes, which were simple roll-ups but already pre-made by the woman earlier.

"You know these are bad for you." The woman said calmly, but still handed her a lighter to light the cigarette.

Ruby just nodded in thanks as she climbed into the aircraft while Aria asked, "Is everything ready?"

"Of course. Didn't know I was transporting friends. Are they good?" The woman asked.

"Of course. Mother would like to depart immediately." Aria stated.

"Yeah, yeah kid. Just don't get ashes in my cockpit." The woman said as she turned to the others. "Naomi, Captain in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. Or Night stalkers but I think Ruby has that description." The woman, Naomi said with a large smile as she threw away her cigarette.

"160th?" Winter asked, confused as she never heard the name.

"Climb aboard before Ruby gets impatient and I'll explain." Naomi said while climbing into the cockpit.

The three women outside all climbed into the cramped passenger space but were able to get comfortable inside as they put the headsets on inside.

"Rubes says I can trust you two, plus I know you're Schnee's. The 160th is a part of Vale's military, as it says in the name its special operations for missions that require a more delicate touch then the common military response. We are quite commonly assigned to Hunter missions to help them." Naomi explained as she powered up the ship and shot off towards Vale.

"Vale has a military? I thought they just had the Hunters." Winter said, confused.

"The military is very low key, it is mainly support for Hunters but there is enough for a defence force around Vale. My unit is the top pilots from around the world, we perform various missions to aid Hunters in their missions and sometimes, although rare we help the military as a whole." Naomi explained.

"So why are you with Ruby?" Mizu asked.

"I was assigned to her." Naomi stated.

The two Schnee women looked towards Neo for an answer, which she happily provided. "Ruby is very reluctant to accept any sort of help. Qrow and Ozpin both want to help Ruby but she won't accept it, I was able to convince her to have some sort of help and so Naomi was assigned to her if she needed to get around the world." Neo explained.

"Isn't that a bit high profile?" Winter asked.

"Nope. If you didn't even know who the 160th were, then why would anyone else?" Neo said happily.

"Ruby. Why do you smoke?" Mizu asked, changing the conversation as her tone became parental.

Ruby didn't answer, even when Mizu asked the question again so she turned to Neo instead.

"She doesn't smoke often. She and Naomi have a deal. Ruby doesn't smoke at any other time and each time they meet each other she'll give Ruby one of hers." Neo explained.

"But why does she do it?" Mizu pushed.

"Not my place to say." Neo said, smiling apologetically.

"Going to be about five minutes, want to get ready?" Naomi said.

Ruby climbed out of the co-pilots seat as she went into the passenger area and crouched down in the middle.

Neo pulled out her scroll as she started typing away on it as she heard Aria asked, "Parameters?"

"Non-lethal, intelligence gathering while taking down the base. Get Aria into the system to copy everything and we'll sort it all later." Neo explained while she typed away on her scroll.

The two Schnee women watched with interest as they saw Ruby secure her weapon and hood while Naomi gave them verbal updates on their location.

"Link is running. Look left. Look right. And focus on Mizu." Neo said calmly as Ruby followed the directions.

"Ok links good. We're ready." Neo said, looking up at Ruby, "Want me to come?" She asked.

"No." Ruby said, using her actual voice.

"Ok then." Neo said leaning in to kiss Ruby briefly.

"Ruby, I have something for you." Mizu spoke up, getting the woman's attention.

Ruby cocked her head to the side as she waited for Mizu to continue talking while the woman took out the box she had been carrying since leaving the house.

"Here. Open it. I think it could help you with teaching at Beacon as well." Mizu explained as she handed over the box.

Ruby opened up the box to discover a simple mask, it had no design on the front and was simple black glass plate over the front and with a small area to secure it to her head.

"It's designed to be able to link in with in with androids for a commander to control them or see what they all see." Mizu explained. "I think that Aria should be able to interface with the mask. It is also able to show your own face or other faces." Mizu informed them.

"Thank you." Ruby whispered to the woman, using her real voice.

"Thank you. I'm going to begin immediately." Aria said excitedly.

"Running silent. We're thirty seconds away." Naomi informed them all, breaking the moment between them all.

"Vale police are called. Response time is five minutes and counting." Neo informed her with a smile as the door opened and Ruby jumped out.

"What was all that?" Winter asked once Ruby had vanished.

"We do that to remind us what we're going in to do and also I have a direct video link. So whatever she sees, so do I." Neo explained, holding up her scroll to show the two other women what she was looking at.

They saw directly through Ruby's eyes what she was doing, currently she was on the roof top of a warehouse building looking around it for entrances and exits while also seeing who was inside.

"Fifteen inside, all White Fang. Make police aware." Aria stated in short sentences.

Neo typed out something else as she showed the video feed to those in the ship so they could follow Ruby.

"Three minute warning." Aria stated.

They all watched as Ruby climbed in through a window as she moved across the support beams for the ceiling as she thought through a plan in her head.

Deciding the best course was direct action Ruby dropped into the middle of them all with her hood hiding her identity and the new mask over her face.

"Please surrender peacefully." Aria said loudly enough for them all to hear them.

Some jumped away in surprise but the others immediately grabbed weapons and started to either charge Ruby or shoot at her.

Ruby reacted immediately by jumping back from the attackers before she charged once them all. She didn't draw her weapon, not even once as she systematically took out the White Fang soldiers.

She started with taking out those with guns first before she worked her way through those with the swords until only a Lieutenant was left.

"You've lost. Surrender and you shall be unharmed." Aria said in place of Ruby.

He instead ignored Ruby and charged straight towards her only causing Ruby to sigh as they never surrendered when she gave them the chance.

Ruby avoided the first strike as she threw her fist out towards the sword bearing arm. It broke with a loud snapping sound but as he screamed out in pain Ruby kicked at the back of his knee, breaking the knee as well, forcing the man down onto his knees.

"What is Adam planning?" Aria asked, her cheerfulness gone and instead replaced by a more serious tone.

"I don't know. He doesn't tell us anything." The man cried out.

"What about Roman? This cell is supposed to aid the man." Aria pushed.

"I don't know." He cried out.

Ruby placed her foot onto the man's broken knee and pushed down slightly, causing him to cry out louder. "Stop! Stop!" The man shouted.

"One minute." Neo's voice entered into Ruby's head, telling her how far the police were.

"Talk or broken bones will be the least of your problems." Aria said chillingly.

"Alright I'll talk. We're meant to help the human acquire Dust and we're on call in case he needs us. We're going to be hitting a Schnee Dust delivery to Vale in three weeks. That's all I know. I swear it." The man begged.

Ruby nor Aria didn't say anymore as Ruby, using some crates in the warehouse to jumped onto the roof as she heard sirens getting close by.

"Swinging in now. Hey Rubes, make sure the stealth system is working fine for me." Naomi requested.

Ruby looked up towards the sky as she waited for Naomi to bring the ship around for them when she saw nothing in the sky but after thirty seconds she jumped straight up, catching onto a rail underneath the aircraft before using only touch to climb aboard.

"Stealth systems are all fine Naomi, no issue." Neo informed the pilot while Ruby climbed inside.

"Thanks, was unsure how it would work in daylight. Next stop, Beacon." Naomi informed them before gunning the engines once more.

Ruby sat down into a seat next to Neo as she started to check her over for any wounds or anything that would give her away.

"Mothers, can we keep the mask?" Aria asked childishly, barely containing her excitement.

"Of course we can sweetie." Neo answered once she received a nod from Mizu.

* * *

They arrived at Beacon shortly after, Mizu left the group going to see Ozpin about something. While Winter went to see her sister briefly and sit in on their lessons while Ruby and Neo went to their rooms to get ready for the day.

Inside their room the girls were getting ready for the day, the first lesson and only lesson for the day was Ruby's three hours session.

"You can't wear your normal clothes." Neo stated, looking at Ruby wearing her normal outfit and cape.

"Why not?" Ruby asked softly.

"Because it will give you away. If you wear that outfit now, you can't wear it later." Neo explained.

"I'm sure I'll be fine." Ruby said, dismissing the concern.

"Ruby. Change into something else after the lesson. And you won't be able to wear your cloak later either." Neo said firmly, looking directly into Ruby's eyes.

Ruby nodded her head after a minute of starring, agreeing to the plan that Neo had supplied, although she didn't like it.

Neo smiled as she saw Ruby agree and leaned in to kiss her but she heard the sound of the door opening and a flurry of rose petals in her face, "Sneaky devil." Neo said, shaking her head.

 **A/N**

 **I love foreshadowing, including certain things in my writing is always interesting because I am curious to see if anyone actually notices things or the meanings to things I add. Admittedly I do explain a few meanings behind things but I'd like to see if anyone could correctly guess my plans.**

 **Anyway random update because I'm just very pissed off and pretty much done with about half of the US about now. All I will say is that when the answer to gun crime is believed to be more guns then I must question your society.**

 **But that's it, I could really go into a rant about the US but I won't, I quite like the country and don't wish to piss off a lot of people.**

 **Also the Nightstalker's or 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment is a real part of the US special forces. They are amazing and very well trained, if you have the time search into them because they are truly great.**

 **Another quick piece I will add as well is that I will write how Ruby and Neo met each other which will happen later in the story. This will be a named chapter called Little Red Riding Hood. I'll give a heads up again but if you don't wish to read that flashback then you can skip it if you so desire.**

 **And thank you Gorsouul for mentioning about a mask which prompted the idea about Mizu giving one to Ruby.**

 **Until next time. ^_^**


	8. Chapter 8

" _To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace."_

 _-George Washington_

 **Chapter 8-**

Ruby was nowhere in sight meaning she was already heading to the hall, meaning Neo was going to go there as well.

On the way she ran into the rest of her team, where Weiss was quick to start asking. "Where have you been? And where's Ruby? You've missed almost all your lessons this week." Weiss stated harshly.

Neo turned to look at the girl, ignoring the way she was acting as she simply replied, "Family business." Neo said flatly.

Weiss was about to reply when another voice interrupted them before she could. "Hello dear sister, how are you doing?" Winter said happily while walking towards the group.

Blake just carried on walking towards their lesson while Yang remained with Weiss to see her sister, while Neo smiled towards Winter, which was returned before heading to the hall.

Ruby was nowhere to be seen in the hall but Neo knew she was here already and was waiting patiently.

Neo watched as other students started to file inside, first was JNPR who seemed to look around in confusion as to where the teacher was. After that came team CFVY, causing Neo to flash them a smile, she hadn't really spoken to them outside of saying a polite hello around the school.

Next was the rest of team WBY including Winter who looked amused at something as she met Neo's eyes, and it seemed Weiss was glaring at her as well. 'Should be interesting later.' Neo thought to herself.

What surprised Neo the most was the fact that CRDL came waltzing into the room, Neo was sure that they weren't meant to be there but Ruby could easily handle that.

"Welcome everyone to combat 101, sorry that we didn't start at the beginning of term but there were a few things to do first." Aria spoke in place of Ruby.

Ruby seemed to just appear on the other side of the hall to the students, her mask was firmly in place keeping her identity secret however Neo was still concerned about the cape.

Everyone was shocked that Ruby or rather Red Reaper was there in front of them, and going to teach them. Only Winter and Neo were not surprised and while each team reacted differently, CRDL reacted the worse.

"It's the Red Reaper. Get her!" Cardin shouted as he drew his weapon and charged straight towards Ruby, while his teammates were more reluctant to go against the woman.

Ruby cocked her head to the side as she watched the man rushing her, as the weapon came swinging down towards her she threw up her fist to knock the mace away from her while her other fist slammed into his face.

The man was thrown back as his aura seemed to break in a single hit as the man landed on the floor as his team quickly gathered around to see if he was alright.

"That took a lot of courage or stupidity thinking you would win that. We have been brought in by Ozpin to teach you how to fight." Aria stated, slipping up as she spoke.

"Now Mr Winchester, please take your team and leave this area. I will not be teaching you." Aria stated coldly.

Ruby watched as Cardin was about to say something back as he managed to sit up, but Ruby beat him to it. "If you worry about not having a lesson on this day, I share speak to Glynda to get you extra classes. Now leave this hall." Aria stated firmly.

All it took was Ruby to take a threatening step forward did they finally scramble away and leave, making Aria laugh aloud to the class.

"Where was I? Oh yes. I will be teaching you combat training in addition to what you are already doing, any questions?" Aria asked as Ruby turned her attention back onto the group.

"Why are you here? You're a wanted criminal." Weiss stated, her hand moving ever closer to her weapon as was most of the students.

"Ozpin brought me here. And officially I am a wanted criminal, unofficially I have the support of the police and the Hunters. As long as the police don't catch me and I keep giving them actual criminals we have an unofficial agreement that I am left alone, however to save face in the public eye they must seem as if they are hunting me." Aria explained.

"Anything else?" Aria asked.

"Why are we having combat training? We already have it with Professor Goodwitch, why do we have it with you?" Pyrrha asked, confused at the change.

"With Glynda she is teaching you how to fight each other and Grimm with your own weapons, this is all well and good but you should know more." Aria informed them.

"What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked once more in confusion.

"Each and every weapon in this room I can use. While I can also use my own body as a weapon, as can Neo and to a point Miss Xiao-Long." Aria informed them all.

"So you shall be using these three hours each week to either train using different weapons or if you wish I can teach you hand to hand fighting. The choice is yours however you cannot do nothing or study for another lesson in this class." Aria stated as she moved away to watch what the students would do.

CFVY were the first to try different weapons, attempting to try them between their team which was almost comical to watch where Velvet attempted to lift Coco's minigun or the large sword another member had, only Coco seemed to be able to do it.

WBY and JNPR eventually followed this lead as they swapped between themselves which once more made for interesting viewing however this was fairly simple as most had swords or a form of a sword.

Neo was the only one who took up the hand to hand training however as Winter had come over to talk to Ruby, Neo was made to run some simple drills with training dummies and agility training while she spoke with Winter.

"So Ruby, a teacher? Quite different from the role of a Huntress and a fighter such as yourself." Winter said.

"Mother taught Neo how to fight with different weapons when they first met. She enjoys teaching however she struggles to be able to really do it." Aria informed her.

"Hello Aria. I don't suppose Ruby is there somewhere to talk to?" Winter asked carefully.

"Mother doesn't like to talk." Aria stated plainly.

"Hmm, but she was talking a lot over the last couple days." Winter said.

"She only talked as much because she had to. Otherwise I speak for her." Aria explained calmly.

"And how do you know what she wants to say? If she doesn't talk that is." Winter asked, trying to learn more.

Aria seemed to pause, as did Ruby as they seemed to converse with each other and decide whether or not to share.

"Ruby alongside Neo both have a Neurological link implanted near the ear, they use this to talk to each other without needing to verbalise the words. I use this link to jump between them and any other data point I can find. I can also use this link to hear what Ruby would like to say and thus speak for her." Aria explained, making sure only Winter could hear them.

"But that technology is only in pre-development, last I heard they had a series of setbacks that stopped the process completely." Winter stated, shocked at the idea of the technology being available.

"That setback was the stolen prototypes. What they didn't tell you about the tests was the simple fact that they burnt out the users brains when they attempted to use them." Aria stated bluntly.

"What! That never came out in any reports I heard. All they said was they had some setbacks but that's it." Winter practically shouted out.

"They kept it in house as they had a major military contract with General Ironwood, so they didn't want to lose it. We discovered what had happened and stole the technology while wiping any record of it." Aria informed the older woman as Neo seemed to come over, noticing the conversation.

"But surely the scientists could still build it again?" Winter asked.

"Maybe. We left them a note so they wouldn't." Aria said cheerfully.

"A note?" Winter stated.

"Yes, it worked. But Ruby was able to almost perfect the technology and decided to try it on herself, and then later with Neo when she had gotten it correct." Aria informed her as Neo joined them.

"Would you like to spar?" Neo asked.

Ruby just nodded her head as she moved to the area left by the other students as she and Neo took up opposite sides.

This attracted attention of the other students as they all came over to watch the fight between Neo and the Reaper, curious as to how this would play out.

They all stood around the edge alongside Winter who hadn't seen Ruby fight except for the short attack on Cardin and when she held her scythe to her neck when they first met.

"Rules?" Neo called out.

"Three body hits or submission. No hits to the head. Hands and feet only." Aria verbalised for Ruby.

"Ok." Neo said, bowing to her opponent as Ruby followed suit.

The fight was quick, or rather it looked quick but it was put on for the students watching them. If Neo revealed she was on par with Ruby then it would make for dangerous questions being asked.

Just at the end of the fight Neo had noticed where Ruby seemed to slip up, although subtle there was enough for Neo to land a hit against Ruby's chest but in the strike she had left herself open to Ruby's third and final hit. Ruby dodged around Neo's thrown punch to land her final hit against the woman's back.

The fight lasted all of five minutes which Ruby quickly got everyone back to running drills and other training pieces for the rest of the lesson, she also got Winter to join in with Neo and Ruby who was practising hand to hand combat.

After the fight Ruby had addressed the entire class, telling them all. "Your entire body is a weapon. Remember that, if someone throws a punch at you, you can deflect it or use your momentum against them to launch them onto their ass. Remember, the best weapon you have is your body." Aria told all of them.

At the end of the lesson Aria dismissed them as Ruby told Neo she would meet them at the cafeteria shortly, however she would change first.

As the class left the room Neo made sure to talk with Winter throughout the walk as to avoid her team and the burning questions they seemed to have.

When they arrived Neo quickly got her food and she spotted Ruby already sitting down, eating a small amount of food in front of her.

Ruby changed out her normal outfit for black jeans, a black t-shirt and her corset with a black and red leather jacket over the top wrapped up in her red cloak to cover most of her body, alongside with storing her weapon at the small of her back and other weapons dotted around her body.

"Good enough?" Ruby asked as she looked over to Neo, the voice coming in her head.

Neo approached the table as she sat down next to Ruby as the others got their food, looking over Ruby's new outfit.

"Mmm." Neo hummed as she looked over Ruby, "That's much better, is that my jacket?" Neo asked.

"It was your present to me." Ruby stated playfully with a smile.

"Present? When did I give that to you?" Neo asked, confused.

"Just now." Ruby said with a teasing smile as she leaned in and kissed her cheek.

"Sneaky devil." Neo said but her face had a full smile on it as she started to eat.

It didn't take long for the others to sit down, the entire class sitting together on one of the long tables.

"Ruby why weren't you in our lesson?" Weiss asked as they sat down, oddly polite.

"She was busy talking with Ozpin and she isn't being taught by the Reaper." Neo answered, using the pre-planned excuse they had come up with to tell about Ruby's absence.

"Oh so you're not as good as you think you are then Ruby? If you're not being taught by the Reaper." Weiss said, trying to act superior to the younger girl.

"Actually she doesn't need to be taught by her, she's already on par if not better than the Reaper." Neo stated, this caused Winter who was taking a drink to almost choke on her drink as she started to laugh.

"Sorry, something got caught in my throat." Winter explained, trying to keep her laughter hidden.

"Ruby can speak for herself, you don't need to answer everything for her Neo." Yang stated almost harshly.

Neo was calm as she turned to look at Yang, "I know she can, she's very capable of speaking however she dislikes speaking." Neo explained.

"Sure." Yang said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Yang I would be careful what you say, neither Ruby nor I would be happy if you are implying what we believe you are." Neo said carefully, her words measured and hinted at carefully veiled threats.

Blake seeing the change in demeanour of both girls she quickly steered the topic away, "How do you speak to Ruby? Like how do you know what she wants to say?" Blake asked.

"We have a system worked out where we can speak to each other without needing verbal words." Neo said, as she had her hand on Ruby's leg as she tried to calm the girl down.

"Are you sure?" Neo suddenly asked, turning her attention back to Ruby. "You've barely eaten your food." Neo stated, referring to Ruby's plate full of half eaten food.

"Fine, but you need to eat later." Neo stated as the pair seemed to have half a conversation.

"Winter would you mind taking Ruby to see your mother? I believe she is seeing Ozpin. I will follow shortly after I'm finished." Neo informed her

"Of course." Winter said, having finished her salad already as she watched the interesting conversations.

"Come on Ruby." Winter said, as they took their plates back up before leaving the large hall to go to Ozpin's office.

Yang and Weiss left barely a minute after, not wanting to be near Neo it seemed while Blake, Coco and Velvet all remained behind as they were still eating.

"So that was interesting." Coco stated.

"It was, however Yang might need to learn to watch her words soon." Neo said calmly.

"Seems so. So what did you all think of the Reaper? Far from the criminal we've been told about in the news." Velvet said.

"It's because she's not. She's labelled as one by the media and the public, however she hasn't killed anyone or stolen anything. Instead she's only stopped actual criminals and the White Fang, so she's more of Vigilante than anything else." Blake informed them, her voice neutral but spoke of her in high regard.

"I guess, though that robotic voice is creepy." Velvet stated.

"Maybe, though it's a little odd isn't it?" Coco asked.

"What's odd?" Neo asked, interested to see what they would think.

"The voice, near the start of the lesson when Cardin tried to attack her. The voice said 'we' but it seemed to pick up on the mistake. So either there are two people here with her or the voice she uses is self-aware at the very least." Coco informed them all.

"You worked that out by a single slip up?" Velvet said.

"It's just a guess until we speak to her more, but why else would she say 'we'?" Coco stated.

"Well I better go catch up to Ruby and Winter, so I shall see you later." Neo said, getting up as she started to walk away.

 **A/N**

 **So I cocked up majorly, I may have caught it before at least partly but for the purpose of the story I'm changing Ruby's age so she is now Nineteen, alongside Neo who is the same age. However this presents a problem, Winter was going to be twenty one years old which would be wrong.**

 **Mizu would have likely kept "traditional" marriage and the like, so only having sex on their wedding night and not before meaning that Ruby would be older than Winter based on the fact Mizu would become pregnant that night.**

 **Basically I've changed the ages so Winter is actually eighteen while Weiss is about a year younger, while Ruby and Neo are nineteen each. Of course there could be some errors but its rough maths after waking up early the last couple days so very little sleep.**

 **Also I've made Yang distrustful of Neo because of how she perceives the relationship between Ruby and Neo and also in the show where Yang fights Neo, she just doesn't trust her. It will get better but that'll be much later on. Not much more I can think of currently so hope you've enjoyed and sorry for the explanation over all this.**

 **Oh also I wonder if anyone understands why Aria asked to be at the dinner table in the last chapter or two ago? Hmmm I wonder.**

 **Oh and FORESHADOWING EVERYWHERE.**

 **Until next time ^_^**


	9. Chapter 9

**Extra chapter this week because of the new release of the starting date and the new exclusive clip, more about that below.**

" _When we feel weak, we drop our heads on the shoulders of others. Don't get mad when someone does that. Be honoured. For that person trusted you enough to, even if subtly, ask you for help."_

― _Lori Goodwin_

 **Chapter 9-**

As Neo left the cafeteria Blake called out to her, "Neo, wait a minute." Blake said, catching up to the girl.

"Yes Blake?" Neo asked politely.

"Ruby's the Reaper isn't she?" Blake said bluntly.

"What makes you say that?" Neo asked, acting naïve.

"Because she pretty much confirmed it on the first day, look she helped me get out of the White Fang." Blake said.

"Why don't you come by our room tonight? Say about nine and we can talk about everything." Neo said.

"Ok." Blake nodded, and once she got the location of their room she left to go to the library or to the dorm, whichever was quieter.

Neo smiled as she watched the woman walk away before heading up to Ozpin's office, inside she found Ozpin, Glynda, Mizu, Winter and Ruby all around Ozpin's desk talking about the Dust raid.

"We would still like to confirm this through another source before we commit anything but we would like your help." Aria said, speaking for Ruby once more.

"How would you like our help?" Mizu asked.

"Let the shipment go through as normal with no guards, I will keep an eye over it and when Roman appears we will put a stop to him and attempt capture or… Well we'll attempt capture." Aria said.

"Wait. What's the other idea?" Winter asked just as Neo joined them all.

"It's only an idea, mother would like to stress that to you. But there is an idea floating around for Neo to join Roman. This attack would be an easy way to get her into the organisation." Aria explained.

"Too dangerous. We can't endanger a student like this." Glynda was quick to say.

"You forget neither Ruby nor I are actual students but here under that protection. Also it is an easy way into the top of the organisation." Neo explained.

"You said another source, who is this source?" Ozpin asked.

"We have two people inside the White Fang, one on the Faunus side and one on the human side, however if we can get a third right next to Roman then we can maybe find out more." Arai said.

"It's too dangerous, what if she gets caught?" Glynda stated immediately.

"My cover is perfect, the chances of being discovered are extremely low alongside the fact that Ruby will not be far away either." Neo said firmly.

"Regardless it is only an idea for the moment, and most likely will not happen unless an ample opportunity presents itself." Aria informed them.

"Getting off topic here, I'll let the shipment go through but if there is a raid happening we would expect to lose the majority of the shipment, it'll only anger my husband more so if you can save any then I'll be able to calm him down." Mizu informed them.

"We have three weeks to prepare, so for now we shall think on it and inform you of any changes." Aria said as Neo picked up, "We need to get back to our room as we have someone we need to talk to." Neo said, inclining her head in farewell as she all but dragged Ruby out of the room.

"Who's visiting us mother?" Aria asked excitedly.

"Blake Belladonna. Do you remember her?" Neo asked as they moved through the silent corridors.

"The cat White Fang member that we helped get out of the organisation?" Aria said.

"That's her. She's coming by to speak to Ruby." Neo said.

"What time?" Aria asked.

"Around nine tonight. If you want to Aria, you can go exploring." Neo said, letting Aria have the freedom to do whatever she wanted to do, while giving Ruby and Neo some privacy.

A few hours later Blake arrived outside the door unsure whether she was in the right place or not but she when she knocked on the door she heard Neo call out for her to come in.

Blake entered the room to see Ruby pulling on the leather jacket she was wearing over her bare body. As she did so Blake caught sight of something marking Ruby's back but she only got a glimpse.

"Sorry." Blake said, blushing lightly as she noticed the girl's stages of undress. Both girls only wearing their jackets and panties.

"It's fine. Why don't you take a seat and we'll answer what we can." Neo said politely, directing Blake over to a comfortable looking chair as the two girls sat together on a couch.

"Would you like water, tea or anything else to drink?" Neo asked.

"Tea would lovely." Blake said with a soft smile.

"Ruby?" Neo asked, looking at the girl as she got up and moved to the small kitchen area. "Ok then." Neo replied.

It only took Neo a couple minutes to make three cups of tea and bring them back over to the group. Placing them in front of the two girls Neo then took her seat back next to Ruby.

"Thank you. How did you know what Ruby wanted? She didn't say anything?" Blake asked, not trusting the earlier explanation.

"We have a method of communicating non-verbally to each other that is why I can speak for her." Neo explained.

"But why doesn't Ruby talk for herself?" Blake asked the all-important question.

"That is too personal I'm afraid. Next question." Neo said politely.

"Ok. Are you really the Red Reaper?" Blake asked.

"Not pulling any punches are you?" Neo teased gently. "Yes she really is the Red Reaper. I'm also her aid as well." Neo said.

"What is the robotic voice you use? And why are you the Reaper?" Blake asked once more, focusing on questions for now.

"The voice is actually an AI called Aria, she was created by Ruby and speaks for Ruby mostly if I am unable to. The answer to the second question is simple, why did you join the White Fang?" Neo asked.

"Because I wanted change. But that changed when the original leaders were voted out because nothing was happening and more violent leaders came into power and the organisation as a whole became violent." Blake said, looking away from the two girls.

"Why did you stay then? Why not like many others, why didn't you leave?" Neo asked, pushing the topic.

"Because I thought we were doing some difference but in the end all they wanted to do was make Faunus the dominant race in the world." Blake said, "So I needed to get out after I learnt this at that train incident. Which is where I met you, Ruby." Blake said.

"Do you know why she was there? On that train." Neo asked.

"No I don't, I didn't really care at the time I thought for sure I was either dead or going to be captured when I saw her dressed in her Reaper outfit." Blake said truthfully.

Neo smiled at Blake as she corrected, "Ruby doesn't kill, neither do I. She was on that train because she knew it was going to be attacked but when she saw you on the train she changed her mind with stopping it. She simply watched instead." Neo informed her.

"But why did she just watch? She could have easily stopped us but she couldn't have known what was going to happen." Blake said.

"She knew you were becoming disillusioned with the White Fang, in part that was due to someone helping you see the truth but she wanted to see what you would do. There was a good chance Adam would want to kill the civilians and if you went along with it then she would have stepped in but you didn't so she helped you." Neo informed her.

"But why?" Blake asked, wanting to know the reason.

"Why do we do anything? I saw someone who was lost as they lost everything they believed in but you were young and highly trained so I gave you a direction to aim towards where your skills could be best used." Ruby explained, speaking for the first time as her voice was soft and slightly raspy.

"But surely your best thing to do was capture me, find out what I know before turning me over to the police." Blake stated loudly.

"But what would that achieve? All I would do is putting an eighteen year old woman into prison where she has no need to be. You stole Dust, that was pretty much it and maybe hurt some people but that's it. I don't need to know what knowledge you have because I already know it, I have a source high up in the White Fang feeding me information, and it's why I knew about the train raid." Ruby informed her.

Blake remained silent for a few minutes as she drunk her tea as a way to think to herself for a few minutes.

The other two women remained silent in respect, knowing this changed her outlook.

"How bad are the White Fang really?" Blake asked quietly.

"What would you like to know? I will happily tell you everything." Ruby said.

"What type of Faunus are you? I can smell dog but something else as well." Blake asked.

Ruby just smiled as she said, "I'll share if you do." Ruby teased slightly.

Blake just nodded her head as she reached up to remove her bow, revealing her cat ears to the group.

"They're cute." Neo said looking at the ears but didn't make a move to touch them as some people did.

Ruby did the same, removing her headphones to allow her two wolf ears to come up from their conferment underneath the headphones.

"You're a wolf, but I thought all wolf Faunus were dead." Blake exclaimed as she moved closer to look at the ears.

"We are, I'm the last of my kind. It was just my mother and I when the White Fang attempted to kill us, they succeeded in killing my mother but I was forced to run away at my mother's orders." Ruby informed her emotionlessly while Neo wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"I'm sorry." Blake said.

"There's nothing to be sorry about, it wasn't your fault. I've already hunted down the ones who attacked us and ordered it." Ruby said coldly, her voice gaining a steely edge.

Blake just nodded her head as she changed the topic, "What are the White Fang planning with all the Dust they keep stealing? And is it really them involved? I hear it's been a human named Roman doing it all." Blake said, her voice hopeful that the White Fang weren't involved.

"He is working with them, we are unsure what they are planning to do with it all but either way we are going to stop them. We have information of a planned raid involving the White Fang soon and we plan on learning more there." Neo informed her, taking Ruby's place for speaking.

"I see. I want to help." Blake said.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I want to really know that the White Fang are working with a human and actually doing all this." Blake stated.

"We'll let you know what is going to happen closer to the time." Neo said, receiving a nod from Blake.

"You need to tell them soon." Ruby said softly.

"So do you." Blake shot back.

"Yes but it is different for me, I have a much bigger secret to keep. While yours is big you also have a Schnee to tell, who won't be happy to say the least. I stopped a large amount of attacks against the Schnee family but she still resents the White Fang and she has been under her fathers…guidance for a long time." Ruby informed her.

"I'll tell them, I just don't know when yet." Blake said, deflecting the topic.

"Don't leave it too long." Ruby said.

Blake just nodded and after a little more conversation they bid their goodnights to each other before going their separate ways.

Ruby over the next few weeks purposefully avoided her team, she turned up to some lessons but for the most part she didn't interact with them. The next week when she was teaching them as the Reaper, Yang had stupidly asked to fight against Ruby.

It was the same rules as before but this time the match lasted under a minute without Yang getting any hits on Ruby at all, and it wasn't until Aria spoke to say the match was over although Ruby was prepared to strike again did she reign control over her emotions.

This action however only lent towards Coco's theory that the voice and the person were two different people.

It wasn't until the day before the planned raid on the Schnee shipment did something happen, while Ruby wanted it all along she wanted it more peaceful but instead it exploded in a way Ruby hoped it wouldn't.

 **A/N**

 **So a lot of talking and boringness in the chapter, sorry. Anyway I can tell you now that I already have a plan for the tournament involving Ruby and Neo, also the new character with the hover board/ guns. I can't actually remember how to spell her name. :/**

 **My head kills like fuck and I've been up way too early the past couple of days so I feel like shit as well, so forgive my bad memory.**

 **Anyway the new clip looks great alongside the fact for the new season although I much more looking forward to the music.**

 **Anyway please enjoy and thanks for reading. (Any fucker that attempts to correct me about it being volume instead of season will lose their head.)**


	10. Chapter 10

" _When we feel weak, we drop our heads on the shoulders of others. Don't get mad when someone does that. Be honoured. For that person trusted you enough to, even if subtly, ask you for help."_

― _Lori Goodwin_

 **Chapter 10-**

She was informed by Aria and shortly after by Pyrrha who was in the room next door and heard everything. Blake had accidently told her team that she was a Faunus after Weiss was ranting quite loudly about the problems they caused for her family, and in that time she also informed them that she used to work with the White Fang.

Ruby reacted immediately as she told Neo to handle the team while she went with Blake. The plan would still go ahead but slightly differently.

Ruby found Blake at the statue with her bow undone as she stood there looking at the statue in contemplation.

"You look better with the bow off." Ruby said softly, careful not to scare Blake.

"And you with the headphones, but neither of us are going to do it anytime soon." Blake replied back sharply.

"That is true. Come on let's go." Ruby said, gently moving Blake to follow her.

"Where are we going?" Blake asked, following Ruby.

"I have an apartment in Vale. You want to go into the city and find Sun but I suggest you don't. The offer for a place at my apartment is available but I won't stop you, however I will get you to Vale easily." Ruby informed her.

"How did you know?" Blake asked stunned as they were walking to the docks.

"Because it's easy to read, and I know what you would be likely to do. Seek out another Faunus, it would be unlikely to be me because I am at Beacon which you don't wish to be at so the next likely person is Sun." Ruby explained her thinking.

Blake remained silent as they approached a Bullhead with a waiting pilot for them, Ruby raised her hand in greeting as she climbed into the back with Blake following.

"The pilots Naomi, sort of my own personal pilot." Ruby explained briefly but Blake remained silent.

After an hour Ruby led Blake into her apartment, making tea for the woman as she sat her down in the living room which only had a couch and a TV.

"Alright. Do you want to talk about it? Or would you rather sleep?" Ruby asked softly.

"I think it's best to talk about it now, while it's still fresh in my mind." Blake replied just as softly.

Ruby just nodded, allowing Blake to speak on her own terms instead of pushing the topic any further just yet.

"Weiss was ranting about the Faunus, using horrible terms for us and well she was then going on about how bad the White Fang was and called all of them murderers and pretty much sub-human." Blake explained.

"So you tried to defend them." Ruby stated, already knowing all of this.

"I did, but it didn't work and I was just getting so annoyed that I couldn't help but refer to myself as a Faunus as well and then it seemed to go down from there when I said I was in the White Fang." Blake said, calmer than earlier.

"I'm not taking sides, however Weiss was under her father's influence much more than her sister and mother so the views may not be completely her own, however that doesn't excuse what she said." Ruby replied.

Blake just nodded, not trusting herself to remain calm on the topic so decided to change it once more, "Why didn't you want me to see Sun?" She asked.

"Because he just wants to get in your pants but also because knowing your nature you would rather go after the White Fang and prove their innocence or guilt while Sun would happily allow and maybe even encourage." Ruby explained.

"Why do you think I would do that?" Blake asked.

"Because Sun will tell you about a Schnee shipment arriving tomorrow night, and you would like to stake it out to see if they showed up." Ruby informed her.

"Is that the shipment you were telling me about three weeks ago?" Blake asked.

"It is. We were going to tell you in the morning however this happened so a change of plan." Ruby explained.

"What sort of change?" Blake asked, glad for the change of topic.

"Well Neo is going to distract our teammates while making Weiss see her errors while searching for you." Ruby explained. "Because of this it means Neo will be unlikely to help me, meaning you can help me."

"I see. Thank you for the chance but is she really going to see the wrongs?" Blake asked.

"She will, don't worry about that her sister and mother are still around as well to help." Ruby said with a smile, "Let's go to sleep so we can talk more in the morning when we are well rested." Ruby said, getting up and showing Blake to her room.

The next morning when Blake woke up she walked through the apartment, seeing that it was very plain and bare, with no pictures hanging on the walls and was painted a neutral colour.

Arriving back to the living room Blake found Ruby sitting on the couch asleep sitting up and she found Neo working in the kitchen in the next room over with the door open.

"Good morning Blake, just ignore Ruby for the moment and come in here." Neo said, inviting the woman into the kitchen.

"Good morning, how did you get here?" Blake asked, knowing Neo wasn't there last night.

"I came in quite late last night, Ruby tends to struggle to sleep quite often so I couldn't stay at Beacon while she was here. She didn't get to sleep until about two hours ago." Neo informed her, "What would you like for breakfast?" She asked next.

"Um toast is just fine thank you." Blake said.

"If you're sure, I can do other foods." Neo offered.

"No it's fine thank you." Blake said.

"Ok. Anyway I'm dragging your team out to look for you later, Yang wants to because she's your partner and I had to stop her. Weiss was a little more reluctant but with her sister and mother there she had to go." Neo told her.

"I see. But you know where I am though." Blake said.

"Do I? I was just seeing Ruby and didn't notice anyone else here." Neo returned with a smile, "You'll be safe until tonight so just enjoy the day." Neo replied.

"Thank you. But why are you doing this for me?" Blake said to the woman, thankful for what the pair were doing but also suspicious.

"We see someone in need and we wish to help. Especially when it is bigotry towards Faunus, Ruby was very worried when we first met. It took her about a year until she finally told me that she was a Faunus, although I suspected for a long time." Neo explained, cooking up some bacon and eggs.

"How did you two meet? Ruby doesn't strike me as the sort of person you just meet in school." Blake informed her.

Neo laughed heartily at the comment, "No we most certainly did not meet each other in school. It's a long story and I don't think we've got the time today." Neo replied back, "I also believe Ruby is about to wake up as well." Neo stated, quickly moving to where Ruby was laying on the couch.

Almost on cue Ruby seemed to wake up with a start, reaching out for one of the weapons on her body but Neo was already at her side to calm her down.

With soft whispered words Ruby had calmed down and joined Blake in the kitchen while Neo placed a plate of bacon and eggs in front of Ruby and toast in front of Blake.

"Good morning." Aria said, coming from underneath Ruby's hood.

"Good morning Ruby, Aria." Blake replied.

"Did you sleep well?" Aria asked.

"Yes I did thank you, what about you?" Blake asked politely.

"I stayed up exploring Vale, however mother says she slept well. Thank you for asking." Aria informed her.

"Well I better get back to Beacon, I will see you both tonight." Neo said, leaning down to give Ruby a kiss goodbye underneath her hood before leaving the house with a soft goodbye to both women.

"So what are we going to do today?" Blake asked as Ruby took their dirty dishes and started to clean them.

"It is a free day, mother is thinking about looking into some White Fang bases or maybe reading until tonight, she is undecided. If you have anything you wish to do today then mother is happy to do it." Aria informed Blake.

"I'm happy to just read, it is rare that I can get a day to do just that. However I don't have my book with me, I left it in my hurry to leave my dorm." Blake informed her.

"That is no issue." Aria said as Ruby stood up, "Follow us." Aria said.

Ruby led them through the apartment until they reached a small room past the two bedrooms, however there was still one room left after this.

Opening the door Ruby revealed the room full of books of all sorts, Blake saw books about quantum theory all the way to simple romance books all lining the walls of the room.

"You can read anything you want to in here." Aria informed her.

"Why does Ruby have books on quantum theory?" Blake asked as she looked through the selves.

"Mother has random interests in things, sometimes she has a desire to learn more about Dust or evolution. She has already learnt everything she can about the mind and weaponry alongside Dust and a few other topics." Aria informed the woman.

Blake didn't respond as she picked out a book that caught her eye as she spoke, "I think I'll read this." Blake informed the pair.

"It's a good book." Aria said, reading the title.

The pair then went back to the living room where they sat in silence reading their respective books, Blake had picked out a romance book while Ruby herself had picked out a romance book as well, although not a common book.

They read in silence until Blake finally decided to ask a question that was bugging her for a while, "Why do you always wear your hood? I mean why do you wear it now? When it's only the two of us here." Blake asked, always seeing Ruby with her hood up or headphones on.

"Mother doesn't enjoy being exposed, her eyes are her biggest give away so prefers to keep them hidden. But also she finds safety and comfort in the darkness of her hood and in the night as a whole." Aria informed her.

"Nyctophilia." Blake said.

It seemed Ruby's body language seemed to smile at her as the word left her mouth, "Mother doesn't enjoy labels but she knows what people would say about her behaviour." Aria said in place of Ruby.

"I see, I didn't mean any offense." Blake said quickly.

"Mother doesn't take any. It is rare anything so deeply affects her." Aria stated.

"If it would make you relaxed mother will remove her hood and headphones." Aria asked.

"It's alright." Blake replied quickly.

"Mother says it is unfair, you have chosen to reveal your true self while she instead hides." Aria said as Ruby removed her hood alongside her headphones but what surprised Blake was that upon closer look the woman wore a black choker around her neck with a small black rose in the middle.

"I never noticed that before." Blake stated as she saw the choker.

"Mother always wears it, it was a gift from my other mother. Mother loathes wearing rings or anything on her hands or arms so as a proposal item instead of a ring Neo brought a specialist made choker." Aria told Blake of the item.

"Specialist made? How so?" Blake asked, intrigued by the item.

"It has a tracking chip allowing mother to always know where she is in case something happens. It also monitors her health and alerts her if anything is wrong. Also the choker allows me to speak more clearly like I am now. Alongside this it is also bullet proof and cannot be broken by anything, including Dust enhanced items." Aria listed off.

"What about the flower? It looks so real." Blake asked, leaning in to look at the choker to see the black rose that had hints of a dark red.

"Because it is. The Black Rose can be seen as a symbol of death or love depending on the reason it was given to someone. It can also be seen as pure devotion as well since a true black rose is impossible to produce. However another, more popular meaning when it comes to romance is the fact it means tragic romance as well. But the flower is real, mother was able to use a small force field through dust to hold a real black rose suspended within to keep it fresh and alive." Aria explained to Blake, while Ruby allowed her to look at the choker closer.

"That's amazing." Blake breathed out, taking the so carefully crafted item into a new respect.

"It is, I love it and so does mother, both of them." Aria informed her.

"But what about the flower itself? You said it means tragic romance, why would Neo give this to you if it meant that?" Blake asked.

"It is not it's only meaning, but just one of them." Aria deflected.

"But it is still one of the meanings." Blake pushed.

"That is true, however not the only one." Aria said.

Realising she would get nowhere Blake sat back while saying, "Well it is a beautiful gift, thank you for showing me." Blake replied honestly.

"It was no problem, it is so rare it is on display that mother likes showing it off to people. Although she prefers letting my other mother see it better." Aria said innocently.

"I see." Blake replied, not mentioning how that sounded to her.

"May I ask if you have your scroll on you?" Aria asked out of the blue.

"Um sure, I have it here." Blake replied, taking her scroll out of one of her pockets.

"You've had no calls or messages from your team have you?" Aria asked.

"No I haven't, which is odd I would have excepted them to try." Blake replied, looking at her scroll a little upset.

"We made a duplicate scroll which forwarded your calls and messages to the fake scroll which Mother has to put them off trying to call you." Aria explained.

"Why did you do that?" Blake asked, annoyed that they did that without her permission.

"To make your team actually search for you instead of using technology to do it." Aria stated.

"I see." Blake replied, not completely trusting the reason but understood it easily enough.

The pair didn't speak for the rest of the day except for what to do about lunch, which they ordered some takeout food instead of cooking something.

In the end they used the day to simply read books, when one finished the book they were reading they simply went to the large library to get another one until it started to turn to night.

"Ok, the shipment is coming into the dockyards shortly. We'd better get ready and leave to catch them." Aria stated as Ruby got up, pulling her headphones and hood back up to cover herself.

The two of them quickly got ready, although they didn't need to do much as they made their way down towards the docks where they were aboard a container ship, watching the shipment in silence to see if they showed up.

It wasn't long into the night when they did indeed show up, inside five Bullheads Roman and a large amount of White Fang guards or workers in order to steal the Dust.

"You have one chance to convince them not to do it." Aria said softly but her voice was firm, far from the innocence it held earlier.

Blake just nodded her head as she jumped down from the ship as she tried to reason with the White Fang working with Roman.

While Blake was attempting to reason with the Faunus Ruby moved from the ship and started to move in red flashes around the containers, freaking out the guards as they saw glimpses of something.

As Roman ordered the White Fang to attack Blake, Ruby stepped in as Aria spoke aloud but they were hidden among the containers.

"That was your only chance." Aria called out menacingly.

This single line was enough to freak out the White Fang guards as they started to get jumpy looking around them to try and spot Ruby, or the Red Reaper as they knew her.

A couple even dropped their guns and started to run away but in a flurry of rose petals they were rendered unconscious in front of the others.

As Blake saw how it was going she drew her own weapon and charged straight towards Roman, letting Ruby handle the guards.

Ruby made short work of the guards, disabling the majority of them until the Bullheads arrived overhead with more troops and guns.

"Naomi." Aria called out.

"On it, firing thirty mike-mike." Naomi replied.

Naomi's bullhead suddenly appeared from behind a warehouse on the docks, de-cloaking in the process as a booming sound came from the aircraft.

The high explosive projectiles smashed into the White Fang Bullheads, however the shots were only on disabling the aircraft instead of killing the occupants.

"Thank you." Aria replied as Ruby turned her attention towards Roman.

"Well Red it seems you have me beat." Roman stated as he knocked Blake away from him.

"But I don't play fair Red." Roman called out, throwing a handful of red dust crystals inside his pocket towards Blake and raised his cane towards her, firing a blast from his cane. "Time to choose Red." Roman called out.

"No!" Aria cried out, prompting Ruby to propel herself forward using her semblance to reach Blake in time. While running Ruby fired her rifle up towards Roman's Bullhead but it only hit the armour.

"No shot!" Naomi called out as she tried to get a shot on the aircraft without killing everyone inside but she couldn't.

As the explosion rang out Ruby was covering Blake with her body, covering the woman's crouching body. With the smoke clearing Ruby's Aura had created a visible shield around them, glowing dark red around Ruby and extending out a small distance as well.

Blake looked up to see Ruby, pale and sweating heavily over her with the smoke of the dust explosion clearing around them.

"NAOMI!" Aria screamed out to the pilot.

"Landing now. I see Neo coming over the warehouse as well as police forces." Naomi updated them as she brought her aircraft down close to the two women.

When the aircraft touched down Blake spotted Neo teleporting onto the roof of the warehouse and onto the ground before vanishing from sight completely before she arrived right next to them, a syringe in her hand.

Neo was silent as she moved Ruby's hood and moved the choker ever so slightly to inject the contents of the syringe directly into Ruby's neck.

"What are you giving her?" Blake asked quickly, seeing how Ruby's visible manifestation of her Aura started to dim.

"Aura injection, she's used a lot of it protecting you so she needs it to help her Aura return to normal levels." Neo briefly explained as she replaced the hood over Ruby's head.

"Blake!" Yang called out, rushing forward to bring the woman into a large bear hug.

Weiss followed at a slower pace as she was unsure how to go towards Blake and seeing the Reaper in Blake's arms and Neo hovering over her with an empty syringe.

"Yang you better let Blake go, she's holding Red." Neo stated.

"Sorry, it's just you were missing and we didn't know where you were." Yang explained.

Blake didn't reply as the Reaper started to stir in her arms and she saw that Neo struggled to hug the woman as she woke up.

"What happened?" Weiss asked.

"White Fang alongside a human, Roman Torchwick were targeting this Schnee Dust shipment, we were attempting to stop them however but we failed to capture Roman." Aria explained in place of Ruby, who was still recovering from using so much of her Aura.

"Naomi get up in the air and cloak, don't let the police see you." Aria ordered the woman.

"What about you? The police are almost here." Naomi replied.

"Just go, remember no one can know of your involvement." Aria informed her.

Naomi followed the instructions as she pulled her aircraft up into the air, activating the cloak as she vanished from sight as police cars started to arrive.

"Help me to my feet." Aria asked, prompting Neo and Blake to immediately helping Ruby to her feet, taking an arm over their shoulders.

"Hands up." The police called, advancing quickly from their cars with weapons pointed at the group.

"Stand down. Huntress code 2, 4, 1, 10." Aria called out loud enough for them to hear, giving the officers a pause as one check out the code.

Five minutes later the guns were lowered and Ruby, or rather Aria explained the situation to the officers who listened with rapt attention however this was aided when Naomi had picked up Mizu and Winter Schnee to help support their story.

Shortly after explaining the situation they were free to go, as the Reaper and Blake were the only two involved and this was all planned alongside the code Ruby had provided meant the police couldn't do anything but question and report the event.

 **A/N**

 **So it was hard choosing a place to actually end this chapter and I'm not at all happy with where I ended it but I didn't want too long a chapter and keep it equal.**

 **Also a lot of foreshadowing in this chapter, I'm curious as to see who gets some of the references made in this chapter alongside what I may be referring to at some points.**

 **I would have posted a chapter over the weekend but my computer actually fucked up with Malware and so I needed to clear it all off which took a day and a half to actually sort the problem out.**

 **Also I'm thinking of taking a break from writing this story, don't worry I've got almost thirty thousand words written and I won't actually stop until I get to a point I'm calling Act Two because that's what it's more or less going to be but part of the same story so I'll keep posting twice a week until I reach the end. I'm doing this because I would like to focus on a couple other stories I want to get finished plus I've got some ideas I want to get written down in more fluid sense then notes on my phone.**

 **Also don't forget about Rooster Teeth's Extra Life livestream on November 7** **th** **at 8am through to November 8** **th** **8am, funnily enough I'm going to watch the majority of it but going Christmas shopping with my older brother and sister on the 8** **th** **which will be fun. But go out and support the live stream and maybe even donate, it's for a great cause.**

 **I think that's it, more or less. So thanks for reading and I'll see you next time. ^_^**

 **Oh and you're going to absolutely hate me when I get to the end of the first act, I'm very tempted to leave you all with a horrible cliff-hanger. No idea yet.**


	11. Chapter 11

_The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting._

 _-Sun Tzu_

 **Chapter 11-**

Heading back to Beacon courtesy of Naomi. Ruby, Mizu and Winter spoke in hushed whispered about the event while the rest of team WBYN were at the other end of the aircraft speaking about Blake and her involvement with the White Fang.

"So he got away?" Winter asked.

"He did, I doubted the fact he would use Dust crystals once more. This won't happen again I promise you." Aria said, speaking entirely from Ruby's prospective.

"How are you? And I mean really, not the crap you gave the police and your team." Mizu asked, worry filling her voice.

"Mother is tired, she used a large amount of her Aura in protecting Blake. The injection mother gave her won't last for much longer before she collapses." Aria stated, ratting her mother out to the two women.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Mizu asked, angry that Ruby tried to hide her injuries.

"Mother doesn't like letting people know of her injuries. Neo only knows of the injuries she sustained through her gift." Aria explained.

"Gift? What gift? Do you mean her semblance allows her to see Ruby's health?" Winter asked.

"No, her proposal gift. It allows her to check mother's status and alert her to any injury alongside a few other things." Aria informed them.

"Proposal gift? Are they married?" Winter asked, shocked at the idea these two women were married.

"No. They are fiancés." Aria stated plainly.

Mizu was silent throughout the exchange as she was trying to understand what this meant for Ruby and Neo, who had both lived widely different lifestyles to her.

Deciding to bite the bullet as Qrow would say she decided to tell her, "Ruby I have something to tell you." Mizu said, looking at the woman who fell forward and would have hit the floor if it wasn't for her restraints.

"What's wrong?" Mizu asked quickly.

"Mother has fallen unconscious. Her breathing is stable and her Aura levels are slowly rising however her heart rate is a little low suggesting deep sleep." Aria informed the pair calmly.

"What!" Winter shouted, immediately rushing to Ruby's side as she went to get a pulse and check the woman.

"Mother is perfectly fine Winter, she is sleeping. She'll be ok in a few days." Aria reported calmly.

"You sound as if this is normal." Mizu pointed out.

"It is. Mother quite often overuses her Aura leading to this sort of reaction. Neo normally looks after her during this time." Aria explained but she quickly kept her silence as the other girls on the aircraft came over to see what was going on.

When they arrived back at Beacon Ruby woke up long enough to tell Aria, and thus the others not to take her to the infirmary before she passed out once more.

Mizu quickly took charge as she ordered everyone away except for Winter and Neo who using Neo's semblance to teleport them into the hallway of their room.

The three women expertly got Ruby onto the bed and stripped her down as she was starting to burn up, prompting Winter to state.

"I've never seen anything like this before." Winter said.

"What do you mean?" Neo asked, once Ruby was laying in the bed devoid of her clothes except for underwear, headphones and her choker, while laying on her back.

"I mean Aura depletion, I haven't seen it before and never knew it could cause this." Winter explained.

"She's already started developing the fever aspect, it's from all the excess energy she used up from her Aura. It all has to go somewhere and for her it transfers into heat energy inside her body." Neo explained.

"What are these?" Winter asked after a few minutes, observing the tattoos on her wrists.

"They are two sets of roses. On her right wrist is red roses while on the left they are black roses. She has a much bigger tattoo on her back though I don't want to move her to show you." Neo explained.

"What do they mean? The tattoos on her wrists, not the one on her back." Winter asked.

"It is subtle but Ruby uses her right arm to hold me or to hold my hand with, red roses are seen as signs of love, around her right wrist she has fifty roses all together which means unconditional love. The black roses on her left however have a double meaning, they mean death but also tragic love. She has that on her left arm because that is the arm she uses to pull the trigger of her sniper." Neo explained to the two women.

"She has a black rose on that choker, is that the same? And what's the story behind it. The flower looks almost real." Winter asked quickly.

"It is real, it's held in animated suspension to keep it alive and fresh. But the item was what I used to propose to Ruby with. She doesn't enjoy rings so I chose something else." Neo explained, smiling softly as she looked at said item.

"You proposed?" Winter asked, surprised at the thought this woman proposed to Ruby at a young age.

"Yes. Or rather we proposed to each other, I got a specially made choker as Ruby said she liked them and she brought me a ring she made herself." Neo said lovingly.

"A ring? Why don't you wear it?" Winter asked, Mizu remaining oddly quiet throughout the entire exchanged.

"Oh, sorry." Neo said as she held out her hand which now proudly showed a plain silver ring which held a small metal rose coloured pink, brown and white and on the underside of the ring was a small ice cream cone in the same colours.

"That's beautiful. Ruby made it herself as well? That's amazing." Winter said admiring the ring.

"She's also hand engraved a message on the inside of the ring as well. She did it all by hand." Neo said proudly.

"Don't you think you're a little young?" Mizu said quietly.

Neo just turned to look at Mizu smiling sadly at the woman, "Perhaps, but life is short isn't it?" Neo said before leaving the topic and it was clear it wasn't up for debate.

Neo stood up walking over to the shared wardrobe, opening up the door as she reached inside to gather a first aid kit sitting just inside.

Taking out a syringe from inside the kit she wandered over to Ruby to inject the contents into her neck once more. "Another Aura injection, she won't need another till tomorrow morning now." Neo informed the pair.

"Why don't you tell us the routine and we can help you?" Mizu suggested, which Neo while hesitant accepted the help.

Ruby was unconscious for three days, two of which she had a fever while the final day her body started to calm down.

The three women alternated their time with Ruby, making sure there was always someone with her although Aria could warn them immediately if something happened.

They had put a wet rag over her forehead to help keep her cool and changed it a number of times throughout the three days, and each day they injected Ruby with three Aura injections spanning over the day. One in the morning, one in the middle of the day and the last one at night.

It wasn't until the beginning of the second day when things went wrong. It all started when Neo was walking back from her only class for the day where she was followed back to her room by Yang and by extension the rest of the team as well.

"Where's Ruby? She's hasn't been here the last few days." Yang asked, calm at first.

"She's unwell and resting in our room." Neo replied back. Not letting her know the truth.

"Can we see her?" Yang asked, pushing slightly.

"No." Neo stated bluntly, approaching the door to her room.

"Why not? She's our team member we have a right to see her." Yang said, annoyed at being stopped from seeing Ruby.

"Actually you don't. The right to see someone is only for family or partners, which you are neither." Neo replied back bluntly, turning to face the taller woman.

"So what? She's just in your room not at a hospital. Why don't you want us to see her? Did you do something to her?" Yang accused.

"Yang that's unfair." Weiss said, surprising Neo as she thought Blake would be the one to step in.

"What? Neo speaks for her all the time, Ruby doesn't even speak herself. The two of them are almost always together and so cuddly together I'm surprised she hasn't already collared her. I bet she's hiding her in there because of something she's done to her." Yang almost shouted at Neo and also towards Weiss as well. While Blake awkwardly coughed at the mention of a collar.

Blake watched as Neo simply leaned against the door, closing her eyes and seemed to count to ten in her head before she looked at Yang with a deadly calm, "I warned you before Miss Xiao-Long and I shall do so again out of courtesy for Ruby. Our relationship is none of your concern and if you need to know about the details of it you shall be made aware. However I will not accept you talking bad about myself based on no evidence except for thing you do not understand." Neo said deadly calm, her voice unwavering and steady.

"Now I kindly ask that you turn around and leave." Neo said, before opening the door and quickly closing it behind her not letting the three women inside.

Neo remained on the other side of the door to listen in what was happening on the other side. She had raised her finger towards the two women inside to keep them quiet.

She heard the debate happening outside, or rather Weiss was almost shouting at Yang at her behaviour while Blake added her comments in after as well, however Yang wasn't changing her stand point.

Neo jumped back as the door was kicked open by Yang who seemed enraged by Neo and her behaviour but also believing that she was right and this was justified.

Neo was standing in front of Ruby's bed, seemingly standing unconcerned but it was clear she was ready to defend herself and Ruby within moments.

Also inside the room was Mizu and Winter, both women were sitting by the only bed in the room who had both stood up as well on either side of Ruby's bed.

What surprised the girls coming into the room however was the almost holographic woman sitting on the bed, looking at them curiously before vanishing from sight as she took note of who was there.

"Miss Xiao Long I kindly ask that you leave. Neo has already done that and now I am saying it. Or else should I get Ozpin down here and you can explain to him what you believe." Mizu stated coldly, moving to stand in front of Neo to stop the woman from attacking the blonde brawler.

"Mother? What are you doing here?" Weiss asked, confused as to why her mother would be here with Ruby.

"Hello Weiss. Ruby is a friend and so is her fiancé Neo. Because we are here and she is unwell we thought to help Neo look after her so she could still attend her lessons." Mizu replied to her daughter, not revealing the extent of the relationship between Ruby and herself.

Weiss seemed to accept the answer although she still questioned how they knew each other but that was for a different time.

"Yang, let's go back to our room. We should leave the women alone while Ruby is still recovering." Blake said, easily spotting how Neo was behaving and was ready to beat the woman if she so much as said the wrong thing.

Yang seemed to listen to Blake's advice and with her tail between her legs the blonde woman left while Blake apologised for her actions before following her partner.

Weiss was torn between staying to question her mother and sister and noticing the hostile tension in the room and thought best to leave.

Once the students had left the room Mizu quickly turned to Neo to calm her down but it seemed she was already calm when Ruby moved in her sleep as the woman was by her side in an instance.

It was the middle of the third day when Ruby woke up, Neo was sitting on the bed talking with Aria who had materialised in her human form to speak to Neo.

Neither noticed that Ruby had woken up silently and watched the two of them talk between themselves with a soft but weak smile on her face.

It wasn't until Winter came into the room to speak to Neo when she saw Ruby was wide awake that they noticed.

"Ruby!" Neo cried out, enveloping Ruby into a tight hug.

"Hello Cheri." Ruby whispered softly in reply, her voice weak.

 **A/N**

 **So another chapter down, the fight with Yang didn't seem right to me but it's something I wanted to do to get her issues out there and make it understandable, also remember that only Blake knows that Ruby is the Red Reaper so Ruby being missing would be very out of place for them.**

 **Again more foreshadowing and what not in this chapter as well.**

 **Oh and who saw the opening for RWBY Volume three? It's great, I really love it and we get to see SUMMER ROSE! I may or may not be planning to bring her into the story at some point but no idea yet and the idea is still up in the air.**

 **However Raven will play a large role in the story and with Ruby, I won't tell you how she is or anything other than the fact that she is Yang's mother but this won't be her main role in the story ;) But I'm just writing her bit now.**

 **Also I've got an idea sort of for the ending of this, or a one shot idea that will be extremely sad and involve death, which itself is quite hard for me to write, for reasons. If anyone has seen the comic of Weiss in a hospital bed and Ruby seeing her each day, you'll know the one I'm talking about. I'm thinking about something like that for Ruby and Neo, thoughts?**

 **Anyway thanks for reading and see you next time. ^_^**


	12. Chapter 12

" _Trauma is hell on earth. Trauma resolved is a gift from the gods."_

― _Peter A. Levine_

 **Chapter 12-**

"Why didn't you tell me you were awake?" Neo asked the woman, breaking the hug but still kept her close.

"I was enjoying watching my two favourite girls talking and relaxing together." Ruby replied softly.

Neo couldn't help but smile at the response as she decided to get to business, "You were out for three days." Neo informed her.

Nodding slowly Ruby said, "I see. What about Roman?" Ruby asked, attempting to sit up but failed when Neo and Winter both made her stay laying down.

"He got away. You protected Blake from the explosion just before I arrived. Once you cleared everything with the police and we were on the flight home you passed out and been like this for three days." Neo explained to her.

"I see. What else has happened?" Ruby asked.

"Nothing much. The White Fang seemed to have gone quiet for a little bit, licking their wounds after you took out a lot of their manpower." Winter informed her.

"I see, anything about Roman?" Ruby asked.

"He's been quiet but I haven't been able to get a hold of your contacts yet. They refuse to talk to me even though Aria is backing me up." Neo said, annoyed that the two contacts refused to talk to her. Only wanting to talk to Ruby.

"I see. I'll speak to them shortly." Ruby said, attempting to sit up once more but only to be stopped by Neo and Winter again.

"Ok I get it, I should rest some more." Ruby stated, annoyed at not being able to do anything.

Laying back down Ruby got comfortable on the bed as she spoke up again, "I'll rest for a bit now. Would you two mind leaving? I don't mean to be rude but I want to speak to Neo alone." Ruby asked softly, which the two women agreed to doing.

They both wished her well before leaving and once she made sure Aria had left them as well, letting the girl go off to explore it seemed the dam broke.

Ruby burst out crying as Neo wrapped her arms around the woman, allowing the woman to just cry her heart out as Ruby spoke through her tears and sobs.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I just reacted and didn't think of the danger to myself." Ruby spilled out, repeatedly telling Neo how sorry she was and how she didn't want it to be this bad.

"It's not my time, I know it's not. I'm sorry for doing that to you." Ruby said again.

Neo allowed Ruby to cry, knowing that this was how the woman dealt with near death experiences or when she got injured.

Neo remembered when she first met Ruby how she was cold and never expressed herself. It was hard for Ruby to express her feelings for Neo at first but in the end she was able to do it.

Ruby had explained everything to her, telling her things no one ever knew which meant that every time Ruby was seriously hurt or came close to dying she would break down in front of Neo.

And all Neo could do was hold Ruby and let her cry, nothing she could say would stop her or offer the comfort she needed.

As Ruby began to calm down a few minutes later Neo said, "Little red riding hood, I don't think little big girls should, go walking in these spooky old woods alone." Neo sung softly to Ruby, the same line she would sing to Ruby while she crying.

Ruby laughed at the song, her sobs being mixed with her laughter as she sung back, "What a big heart I have, the better to love you with, little red riding hood, even bad wolves can be good." Ruby sung in return, using the line Neo taught her to reply with.

Neo smiled at Ruby as the tears and sobbing stopped as they both sung their respective lines. It was as if it was a magical switch that helped Ruby relax.

"Thank you." Ruby whispered, remaining in Neo's embrace for a few more minutes before she sat up.

"What are you planning on doing?" Neo asked, letting Ruby sit up.

"Speak to Ozpin about changing the timetable. I want to train everyone at least twice a week and more intense. I also want to get in contact with my two sources, I want to find Roman and Cinder quickly." Ruby answered.

"Why do you want to do more intense training?" Neo asked, sitting up as she watched Ruby climb out of bed with a few issues.

"I feel the time steadily approaching. I want to make sure everyone is at least trained to a good enough standard." Ruby supplied.

"I see. Are you sure?" Neo asked, her voice filled with worry at the news.

"Yes, I can feel it." Ruby answered, not caring about her state of undress in front of Neo who had seen it all before.

"Wardrobe. I teleported it into their so the others didn't see." Neo stated when she saw Ruby looking around the room. "I want you to go to the infirmary for a check-up before the next lesson." Neo stated.

Nodding her head in thanks Ruby went into the wardrobe and started pulling out her clothes and some pieces of armour. "If that is what you want." Ruby replied.

"Thank you." Neo said, admiring the view Ruby was affording her as she laid out her entire outfit in front of her before getting dressed.

Ruby changed her underwear, being in the same bra and panties for three days in bed was not pleasant. Neo watched eagerly as she took in Ruby's pale body against her red underwear and black choker, both standing out against the paleness of Ruby.

First thing Ruby put on was two armbands on her upper arms which each held ten throwing knives in each, with quick access down her sleeve to either hand.

After this came a knife holster around her ankle and thigh before she pulled on a long sleeve shirt and her red, puffy skirt and her black/red combat boots. With this done she put her corset on and with some help from Neo tied it up.

Attaching her main weapon to the small of her back alongside two pistols, one on her hip and another hidden away under her arm she attached yet another knife alongside two more throwing knives hidden in place sight.

The last thing she did was wrap her cloak around her body, hiding all her weapons from view and made her seem like someone else entirely, especially when she put her hood up and mask on.

The mask itself was something of a marvel. It looked like black sheet glass as the faceplate but it was a special martial that allowed Ruby to see out but no one to see in unless she wanted them to. The borders around it were trimmed in a dark red to match Ruby's cloak and Aria was able to interact with the mask as much or as little as she wanted. It also allowed her to project images onto the glass if she wished to.

Neo watched with keen interest, she loved watching Ruby get dressed as it was something she never did in front of anyone except for her. She eagerly watched Ruby whenever she had the chance, as Ruby was rarely ever out of all of her clothes or she would get dressed while Neo was asleep. It was also one of the few times she was able to see the large tattoo on the woman's back, which she loved seeing as it was truly a work of art.

"If you're done staring at me, would you like to come with me or stay here?" Ruby asked teasingly in her soft voice.

Neo was already dressed and climbed out of the bed quickly as she followed Ruby to Ozpin's office. One of her scrolls in Ruby's hands, she sent off two quick fire messages to her sources for new information.

They ran into no students along the way to Ozpin's office, she didn't know if that was simply because of Ruby's choice in direction or something else but they reached his office without issue.

They were seen instantly as they entered the office and Ruby quickly explained what she wanted to do, and strangely enough Ozpin agreed that he would extend the Thursday lesson and would have an extra lesson on Tuesdays as well.

Leaving the office the pair went to the infirmary when Ruby changed from her Reaper mask and cloak to become simply Ruby. All they did was a standard check-up and took blood to be tested, but so far all they said was she had Aura exhaustion and required further rest.

Finally following the doctors' orders they returned back to their room to sleep the rest of the day away, however they remained wide awake and just spoke to each other.

"When are you going to tell me about Yang?" Ruby asked randomly.

"What about her?" Neo asked innocently.

"The fact she kicked the door open and accused you of more or less abusing me." Ruby stated calmly.

"Um…How do you know about that?" Neo asked shyly, unsure as to what Ruby's reaction would be.

"Aria told me, she was worried about you and so told me about the event." Ruby explained.

"I'm sorry, I should have told you but I didn't want to worry you." Neo said.

Ruby leaned over and kissed Neo gently on her cheeks, "I always worry, but Yang has gone too far this time." Ruby replied.

"Please don't hurt her. She just simply doesn't understand our relationship." Neo attempted to defend the woman.

"That doesn't mean she can make assumptions about it either, or question what it is we do." Ruby replied coldly.

"What are you going to do?" Neo asked, slightly scared for the blonde woman.

"Not sure, I want to go and fight her now to prove to her I'm not as defenceless as I apparently seem to her, but I also know that it will give me away." Ruby said calmly but still annoyed.

"I'm sure you'll think of a way to handle it." Neo said lightly.

"Maybe. Let's just sleep for a bit." Ruby replied, hugging Neo closer to her own body.

A few hours later Neo awoke to an empty bed next to her, Ruby was gone but her side of the bed was still warm.

"Aria where is Ruby?" Neo asked, calling out to the empty room.

"Mother is on the roof. She has been up there for about an hour." Aria informed Neo.

"Thank you Aria." Neo replied, climbing out of bed to follow where Ruby was.

Getting up to the roof was easy as there was a doorway leading outside, which the door was already unlocked meaning Neo could just go straight through.

Keeping as quiet as possible Neo spotted Ruby laying down on the floor with her cloak around her shoulders as she looked up to the sky.

Neo quietly laid down next to Ruby as she stayed silent and looked up to the night's sky, which was full of stars shining in the sky.

After almost half an hour of just staring up in the sky in comfortable silence Ruby spoke up, "It was believed that the stars were people that passed onto the next life and they became a star in the sky to guide the living. This was a time where they used stars to find where they were." Ruby said softly.

"What do you believe?" Neo asked softly, trying not to stop Ruby's trailing thoughts.

"I don't know. I believe the Fates guide me and my actions, but sometimes I doubt it as well. Why would the Fates guide me to something I can't complete?" Ruby stated, frustration evident in her voice.

"Maybe I'll become a star in the sky, do you believe that's what happens when people die?" Ruby asked, turning to face Neo.

"I don't know. You shine brightly already that I wouldn't be surprised you'd be a star already." Neo replied.

Ruby laughed dryly at the comment, "I don't shine bright. I wish I did but I'm as dark as the night sky." Ruby replied back.

"Why do you think that?" Neo asked.

"Because of what I do. I've killed people, I hunt down my own kind and lock them up, and I've killed my own kind before. How could I shine brightly when I've done so much evil?" Ruby asked.

"Because of the reasons you fight." Neo said, rolling over to sit on top of Ruby's stomach.

Neo reached up to lean over Ruby's body, her arms resting by her head as she moved the hood down and took the headphones off to reveal Ruby's ears.

"You fight to protect your kind as a whole. The White Fang are a cancer that you recognise, you're trying to get rid of the evil they commit by sacrificing your own soul to make the world better for the Faunus. This is how you shine brightly, never doubt that what you do is for the good of people as a whole. You kill because they leave you no choice, it is not good nor is it bad. It simply is." Neo said to Ruby, leaning down to kiss Ruby as she finished speaking.

Ruby leaned up into the kiss, happily returning it before breaking away with a smile on her face, "You always know what to say to me." Ruby said.

"It's because I know you so well." Neo replied with a smile, stealing another kiss from Ruby as her hands played with Ruby's ears gently.

Ruby purred into the kiss, enjoying how Neo was playing with ears but she had to stop Neo from doing anything more.

"What's wrong?" Neo asked, confused as to why they stopped and worried she had done something wrong.

"Nothing. We've had company since you came out here." Ruby replied, which only made Neo look more confused. "You might as well come out girls." Ruby called out.

 **A/N**

 **This would have been up earlier but I've been playing the last episode of Life is Strange, which is amazing, the music in the series is amazing but the game itself is amazing as well. I've never had a game actually bring me to tears before and this one came extremely close to it, I highly recommend the game.**

 **I might do a little story or write something for Life is Strange again because it was amazing and I have a few ideas. At the moment I'm messing with a few ideas while still working towards the end of the first act of this story, but I've got a fair bit of time to actually finish up to it.**

 **Not much else to say, you may or may not see some more things from me over the next couple days or week or two, no idea yet to be honest.**

 **Thanks for reading and until next time. ^_^**


	13. Chapter 13

**So slight spoiler at the bottom for the first episode of Volume 3, it's something you discover very early on anyway and fans have worked out easily, but j just in case someone doesn't want any spoilers than go watch the episode then come back.**

 _The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting._

 _-Sun Tzu_

 **Chapter 13-**

Neo looked up to see WBY come walking out from behind the door, looking sheepish at being caught.

Neo didn't move from her position on Ruby but her hand had taken a hold of one of Ruby's hidden knives.

Ruby didn't stop the woman from doing this as she looked up towards the sheepish women. Blake looked on with amusement at the position of the two girls while Weiss just looked nervous and awkward at the two girls.

Yang on the other hand had a look of shock on her face as she took in the scene, and could only assume what the words they spoke about meant.

"If you're done gawking at us, would you care to explain why you are listening in on us?" Neo asked threateningly.

"We wanted to see Ruby but when we saw Neo leaving the room we tried to see Ruby but when we got no answer Yang wanted to follow Neo, and we ended up here." Blake explained.

"Why were you looking for me?" Ruby asked softly, the women straining to hear her.

"We hadn't seen you for a few days and were worried about you." Weiss stated.

"I see. Well I'm fine." Ruby stated bluntly.

"You're a wolf Faunus. Why did you never say?" Yang stated, the first thing she could think of when she spoke.

"Would you tell everyone you're a Faunus? Look at how you all reacted to Blake, if Ruby told you then it would have been worse." Neo stated harshly to the group, or rather just to Weiss and Yang.

"You knew?" Weiss asked to Blake, noticing that she wasn't surprised.

"I could smell her, but I didn't know she was a wolf until recently but that's because of another reason." Blake said.

"Are you sure?" Neo asked, looking down to Ruby who had grown silent. "Ok then. Aria would you mind coming out here." Neo called out, confusing the women in front of them.

"Of course mother." Aria said, appearing in front of everyone in her standard outfit. "Hello, it's nice to finally meet you in person." Aria said, bowing to WBY.

"What the? You're the Reaper!" Weiss stated, recognising the voice instantly, "But you're an AI!" Weiss exclaimed, working it out from the semi-transparent nature of Aria.

Neo stood up from her prone position on Ruby's body, who also got to her feet as well. The knife Neo held in her hands was clearly on display but she made no move to put it back.

Aria giggled at the comments made to her as she stated in reply, "I'm not the Reaper, merely her voice." Aria informed them.

It seemed to dawn on the two women just who the Red Reaper truly was as everything they saw all clicked into place within their minds.

"Finally." Neo exclaimed, "Yes Ruby is the Red Reaper, but she much prefers being called Ruby." Neo said, taking glee from the fact she was stunning these two women into silence.

"But how? She's just a student." Yang stated.

"There is a reason she doesn't attend lessons, especially those where we're taught by her." Neo explained, "And before you ask Ozpin knows alongside the teachers, Mizu and Winter." Neo informed them.

"My mother and sister know? How?" Weiss asked, confused.

"Of course. Mother wishes us to go somewhere more private." Aria informed them all.

With Neo, Ruby and Aria all moving them along towards their shared room where they sat down on the bed or the chairs in the room. "Your mother knows who Ruby is because Ruby saved her life and revealed herself to her. Winter was the one who came to check on Mizu and the details were shared with her." Over the next hour Neo and Aria both explained the situation, and while leaving out certain details like Mizu's plan to take over her company again and their own information on the White Fang and events.

It took them hours to get through the questions about everything, although a lot were deflected or went unanswered. Especially ones pertaining to Ruby's personnel history but they happily answered what they could about Ruby's involvement in attacking the White Fang.

Eventually they were satisfied and the groups went their separate ways however by the time it finished Ruby was already asleep in Neo's arms.

Over the next few weeks Ruby had completely changed her lessons, now she had everyone in one large groups being trained in hand to hand combat as she sought to raise their endurance so they could fight for longer.

She also taught them basic Aura manipulation to better defend and protect themselves but what she drilled into them was the need to have multiply forms of fighting.

The training was brutal, at least that's what Neo told her about her routines as she constantly pushed the students to their limits and pass them.

In those few weeks Ruby noticed something slightly disturbing about team WBY, or rather just one member. Weiss and Yang were focused on this dance the school would be hosting but over the course of a few weeks she saw Blake getting worse.

According to Aria she was the only one who did not seem to relax after her lessons with Ruby, nor did she sleep as much as she should. Deciding the best method was to confront Blake over this she pulled her away during her next lesson.

"Neo please run them through basic warm up drills while I speak to Miss Belladonna, in private." Aria stated to the entire class.

"Of course." Neo said, getting everyone to run around the hall a couple times and stretch while Ruby took Blake up to the stands overlooking them all.

"Aria would you mind keeping an eye on everyone?" Ruby asked softly, her voice slightly distorted by the mask.

In silence Aria jumped away from Ruby and towards Neo as Ruby sat down with her back facing the students below.

Reaching up Ruby removed her mask so she could look at Blake directly, "You look like shit." Ruby bluntly stated.

"Thanks, you really know what to say to make a girl feel better." Blake replied dryly.

"How much have you been sleeping?" Ruby asked."

Blake remained silent at the question, choosing instead to look away from the silver eyes staring at her.

Sighing Ruby just said, "You need to sleep, I know I'm not one to talk but you need to take naps at least. And not the ones you have when you pass out from exhaustion in the library." Ruby told her.

"How do you know about that?" Blake asked, stunned that the woman knew about her passing out in the library.

Ruby laughed gently at Blake as she said, "How do you think the blanket gets there each night?" Ruby informed her.

"That was you? I thought that was the librarian or something." Blake stated.

"There isn't one, its run by students who volunteer to run it and I sometimes look through the collection." Ruby informed her, "I also noticed you asleep so I put a blanket over you." Ruby stated.

"Thank you. But I'm fine, I can't sleep knowing Roman is out there working with the White Fang doing god knows what." Blake said, her voice getting steadily louder.

Ruby raised her hands in surrender to calm Blake down before she said calmly, "Oh the Fates know what he's planning, but they won't share with me what it is. I'm looking into what Roman and the White Fang are up to. I don't want you, or anyone else looking into it." Ruby stated firmly.

"But we can help!" Blake replied.

"Blake, I mean this in the nicest way I can but I've been hunting the White Fang for almost all my life. I've watched them changed from the peaceful organisation to the violent and aggressive one they are now. I promise you I will stop them and keep you informed but you can't keep doing this. I can see the bags under your eyes from a lack of sleep." Ruby explained.

"Take a break, sleep and relax. Go to the dance either on your own or with someone but just spend a night relaxing without any concerns or worries." Ruby said gently.

"But how? I can't think of how the White Fang are planning something but we don't know what." Blake replied.

"Push these thoughts from your mind. At least for a little while, you don't need to be plagued by these thoughts constantly." Ruby told her. "If it only helps for a little while then it is good."

"But how do I do that? I don't know how to push these thoughts from my mind." Blake said, the exhaustion sounding clear in her voice.

"Imagine a door. Push these thoughts behind that door and close it, and lock that door away. It might not help for long but it might provide a little relief. The dance is in two days, you're excused from classes until the dance is over, got it?" Ruby stated.

"What am I supposed to do until then?" Blake asked, worried about the inactivity.

"Sleep. Read, nothing stressful. If you're struggling to rest or find somewhere peaceful then you can use our room, just give me a heads up." Ruby informed her. "Now go before I show you true exhaustion." Ruby said, quickly shooing Blake out of the hall as she replaced her mask to carry on the lesson.

No one asked her about Blake and where she was going, they could all guess the words exchanged between the two women but they were thankful as they could all see how tired Blake truly was.

After the class was over with further hand to hand drills and sparing in pairs while Ruby advised and pointed out flaws everyone left exhausted while Neo remained behind to talk to Ruby.

"Blake getting some rest?" Neo asked.

"Hopefully, Mother told her to rest at least until the dance and to try to relax but it's up to her what she does." Aria informed her.

"That's good. The students from the other schools should be arriving shortly, do you think she really is coming here? In person." Neo asked.

"Yes, I trust my source completely and the fact my source is in the group arriving with her." Ruby said.

"But isn't it a huge risk she's taking?" Neo asked.

"Not really, there aren't many people, if any that really know who she is so it's relatively safe." Ruby stated, removing her mask from her face briefly.

"I see. How are we playing it?" Neo asked.

"I'm going to pay her a visit. You are going to see Ozpin and explain the situation to him, under no circumstances are the staff or students meant to know who she is." Ruby stated firmly.

Nodding Neo left the room with her towards their own room where they found Blake asleep on the small couch in their room.

Smiling Ruby picked the young woman up and carried her over to the bed without waking her up, laying her down Neo cover the woman with a blanket while Ruby went about getting changed into her other outfit from before.

Leaving the room Ruby was walking through the halls with a wide smile on her face and youthful enthusiasm that was so foreign to her that some of the people she saw in the halls had to do a double take.

Finally after half an hour of aimlessly walking through the school she finally found what she was looking for. Pulling out her scroll Ruby started rushing through the hallway until she ran into someone.

Ruby immediately started apologising to the tall woman with dark black hair dressed in Haven's uniform. "I'm so sorry. I was looking for a friend of mine but I wasn't paying much attention." Ruby said quickly.

"It's fine." The woman said in a silky smooth voice, "My name's Cinder, the man is Mercury and the woman is Emerald." The woman, Cinder introduced herself.

"Oh you're Cinder? I've been looking for you, my friend said they really wanted to meet you but they couldn't. They said you'd be too scared to meet them." Ruby said.

Cinder looked in shock alongside Mercury and Emerald, although Ruby could see amusement behind her eyes as well.

"Who is this person? I'm not scared of anyone." Cinder said, rising to the challenge.

"Oh um they didn't give me a name but they wore a red cloak and seemed robotic, at least the voice did." Ruby said cheerfully before adding, "She said to tell a woman called Cinder, 'I'll be bringing them down, wherever they go, I'm right behind you there's nowhere to go.' "Oh I need to go, enjoy the rest of your day and time here at Beacon." Ruby said cheerfully, waving at the three people before rushing off.

Emerald watched as Cinder paled as the girl ran off, what confused her was how this girl knew of the Reaper but she didn't question it for too long.

Cinder quickly recovered and stormed off ahead of them all, muttering under her breath as she went however she never truly recovered all the colour in her face for the rest of the day.

Ruby was still smiling when she entered her room where Neo was sitting on the couch on her scroll when she came in.

"How did it go?" Neo asked.

"She's scared, I delivered my message. So we have to see how she reacts." Ruby said, laying down on the couch next to Neo.

"Doesn't it make you a target?" Neo asked.

"Maybe, but I think she'll have bigger issues to worry about." Ruby said, laying her head down onto Neo's lap.

Neo smiled as she placed one hand onto Ruby's head and absently ran her hand through Ruby's hair and over her ears. "The meeting with Ozpin was interesting. He's agreed to give us all the access we need and to leave Cinder and her group alone, unless they do something very big." Neo informed her.

Ruby just hummed in acknowledgement to what Neo was saying but she just closed her eyes while attempting to sleep.

"So about the dance?" Neo asked.

"What about it? We know Cinder will attempt to upload something in the CCT so I'm going to stop them." Ruby said bluntly, keeping her eyes closed.

"Ruby, look at me." Neo said firmly, moving Ruby's head to face her.

Ruby opened her eyes to see Neo glaring at her as she asked, "Um what's wrong?"

Neo just sighed, shaking her head in response. "What about the dance? You won't be doing that the entire time so surely you can spend some time at the dance relaxing." Neo said.

"But I will be." Ruby replied.

Neo glared at Ruby once more as she said harshly, "That doesn't count. It's not really you, I want you there not just vanish back to our room after the ensuring fight." Neo said angrily to Ruby.

Ruby looked at Neo confused as to why she was so angry about this, "What's wrong? It's just a dance." Ruby said, confused.

"It's not just a dance. I've never been to one before, neither have you! I want to go to one, see what it's like. I want to experience it with you." Neo cried out to the other girl.

Ruby remained silent as her mind started going through everything while she saw Neo looking angry and upset at Ruby.

"Would you like to go to the dance with me?" Ruby asked softly.

Neo looked in shock at Ruby at the question, however this last for only a few seconds before she answered, "Of course I do. But what about Cinder?" Neo asked.

"I'll only be gone half an hour tops, it'll be fine. Ozpin will need to deal with Ironwood afterwards but I can spend the entire time with you." Ruby replied softly.

"You would really do that?" Neo asked almost in disbelief.

"Of course, I love you." Ruby replied, pulling Neo down for a kiss.

 **A/N**

 **So the new volume has started and it hits you in the gut a little at first but the music is fucking amazing and so is the action. That's all I'll say about that there.**

 **I didn't want to go into too much detail about the girls speaking with Ruby and Neo as, well they don't really explain a lot and most of it comes later throughout the story anyway.**

 **Now I plan on including another OC later on that will be connected with Naomi and the story, you may actually know this character if you're a fan of the AC series ;)**

 **But I need to ask something, I need alternate names for Neo. And I don't mind things for Ruby or others to call her but like she's a different person completely, because I'm shit at names I'm opening it up to you lot because that first episode has really really helped me for an idea of mine to show more about Neo.**

 **Also there are a lot of you, 135 followers and 99 favourites yet only a couple review. I can't say much as I don't normally review stories that often now but it'd be great to see what you're all thinking, even if it's just one word.**

 **Also to the guest reviewer, sorry about the cliffhangers but I can't say it'll get better, only worse. ^_^**

 **I think that's it, so thanks for reading and see you next time. ^_^**

 **(PS: In case you haven't noticed I update Tuesdays and Saturdays, in case people wonder when they'll see another chapter.)**


	14. Chapter 14

" _You're the predator right up until you're prey."_

― _James S.A. Corey, Abaddon's Gate_

 **Chapter 14-**

Neo happily returned the kiss before breaking apart as Ruby smiled up at her calling out, "You don't have to fake being asleep." She called out.

"Sorry, I didn't want to ruin your moment." Blake said, sitting up in the bed. "Thank you for putting me in your bed and letting me stay here, I'm sorry if it's an inconvenience." Blake said.

"Its fine Blake, we offered, we're just glad you're getting some rest. Did you sleep well?" Neo asked.

"Yes I did, thank you. May I ask what this is about the dance?" Blake asked, having overheard their conversation.

"Oh it's just that Ruby will be coming with me to the dance as my date." Neo replied.

"Really? What about the CCT? And someone called Cinder?" Blake asked.

"It's nothing you need to concern yourself with at the moment, we need to discover more information first before we want to share it with everyone." Neo replied back.

"You're not going to tell me anything are you?" Blake asked.

"Nope. Not yet at least, we've got to wait and see what happens." Neo stated.

"I see. Well thank you for letting me stay here but I better go back to my team before something happens." Blake said, leaving the room and the two girls all alone.

The next two days went by quickly, they had told Mizu and Winter about Cinder and their plan so they wouldn't do anything to stop their plan.

Both Schnee women were also going to attend the dance as well, having already picked out dresses for the event. Although Ruby had not so she had spent a day out with Winter.

They had gone around Vale town looking for dresses as they spent the day together, the whole event was weird to Ruby. Her only family was her mother and while they did spend a lot of time together going out shopping for clothes was not one of the things they had done.

So when Ruby was spending the day going cloth shopping it was an interesting experience, she almost felt like this was something best friends did or maybe even sisters going dress shopping right before a big dance or date.

Ruby strangely found herself enjoying her day with Winter, they talked about all sorts of topics ranging from current Kingdom politics to just simple gossip they heard around the school.

Aria was busy doing something else meaning that Ruby had to use her own voice, but she only spoke to Winter and when she needed to speak.

In the end the two of them spent the entire day in Vale as they had lunch and dinner out there in town, what was lucky was the fact Winter was not very well known as a Schnee so instead avoided the normal commotion which would accompany that.

In the end Ruby had gotten her very first dress while Winter added to her ever growing collection, Winter also offered to do Ruby's make-up which then led to her agreeing but needing to buy some as she had none.

Ruby enjoyed the entire day she spent with Winter and when they returned back to Beacon she found Mizu was strangely happy that the two were getting along so well but Ruby couldn't work out why she was so happy.

When the day of the dance came Ruby noticed that a lot of the students were rushing around getting ready, but she noticed that Blake was relaxing and the bags under her eyes weren't as visible as the day before.

Entering Winter's room to get ready herself, she was carrying a duffle bag with her Reaper gear inside while Winter herself had her dress and make-up.

"Hello Ruby, here to get ready?" Winter asked.

Nodding Ruby put her bag down and waited for Winter, she wasn't sure how long it would take for her to get ready so she wanted to have enough time.

Winter smiled at Ruby as she said, "Come on, and sit down. We've got ages until the dance tonight so why don't we just talk?" Winter suggested lightly as Ruby sat down on the bed with her.

"What about?" Ruby asked, cocking her head to the side.

"I don't know, anything?" Winter suggested.

"Well why not about each other? We covered a lot the other day but we didn't get much into each other." Ruby said.

"Hmm, sure. We could do twenty questions. Do you want to start?" Winter asked.

"Um sure. Uh how old are you?" Ruby asked awkwardly.

"Relax, I won't bite. I'm eighteen years old. What's your favourite colour?" Winter replied.

"Black. And really? I thought you were older than that." Ruby stated.

"Everyone thinks that, I was home-schooled all my life and I was a quick learner so I finished my studies very early on." Winter explained, "Really? I thought it would have been red." Winter said.

"I find comfort in the night so black is the closest real colour to night." Ruby said softly, worried about what Winter would say.

Winter just smiled at Ruby saying, "Don't worry, I like you for you, I'll never judge you." Winter said reassuringly. "Guess it's your question."

"What's your favourite food?" Ruby asked.

Winter laughed at the question as she whispered, "Don't tell anyone but its cookies and strawberries, especially the chocolate chip ones with strawberries on the side." Winter said with a large smile across her face. "What's yours?"

"The same. I've loved cookies and strawberries all my life, my mother used to bake them and mix strawberries into the mix and they were the best I've ever had." Ruby said excitedly.

"I wish I could have tried some of them, I bet they would be amazing my mother said she had a friend that made amazing cookies but she couldn't replicate them. How old are you?" Winter stated.

"Nineteen." Ruby said.

"Wow you don't look nineteen, you look a little younger. At least without the cloak and everything." Winter said. "What do you like to do in your spare time?"

"Depends, I like to train and improve my skills. I also like messing with things for example my weapon or maybe with a new computer programme for Aria although that is rare. However I enjoy reading about different topics and just learning more about the world." Ruby explained. "Do you know how to dance?" Ruby asked.

"Of course, my father had Weiss and I taught how to dance alongside other skills that 'Proper young ladies' should know, at least according to him. How come you asked that?" Winter asked.

"Um well I'm going to the dance and well I don't actually know how to dance properly, it's never interested me but I want to make the night memorable for Neo." Ruby said quietly.

"Aww that's so sweet. Well I can teach you how to dance if you want." Winter said, standing up while offering her hand to Ruby. "I'll teach you the basics first and then you can practise leading me." Winter said.

It took Ruby almost two hours before she was confident enough to lead Winter in the dance, and another hour for her to be confident that they could stop, also they needed to get ready for the dance as well.

While Winter was getting dressed and her make-up done Ruby sorted out her cloak and weapon, having someone take it to the hall for her.

Winter had gotten a sky blue dress that reached down below her knees and was open at the back to reveal Winter's back to people however the front was high up, showing barely a hint of cleavage. She wore high heels to make her that little bit taller. She had applied very little make-up but enough to highlight her eyes and lips.

After Winter had finished she had helped Ruby get ready, questioning the fact Ruby was wearing knee high laced boots but she let it go after hearing that Neo would be wearing heels instead.

"Are you going with anyone?" Ruby asked softly.

"Why yes, I am." Winter answered gleefully, excited about the dance.

"Who?" Ruby asked.

"Wait and see Rubes." Winter said happily as she wandered off towards the hall while Ruby went to her shared room with Neo to pick up her date.

Neo hadn't rushed to get ready, instead she spent the day with Blake and team WBY for a little while helping them put the last finishing touches onto the dance before they went their separate ways to get ready for the dance.

She had just finished when she heard a knock at the door, confused she quickly put her grey heels onto her feet as she answered the door.

Her mouth almost dropped as she took in Ruby in front of her, she looked like a completely different woman in a dress and with make-up on.

Ruby wore a dark red dress reaching just pass her knees where the dress itself met Ruby's back laced boots. The dress itself showed very little of Ruby's chest but enough for it to catch Neo's eye.

Her black choker was on full display for everyone to see alongside the rose in the middle and the tattoos sitting on Ruby's wrists. The dress itself had an open back as well revealing the fact Ruby wore no visible bra but the large tattoo decorating her back was on full display but Neo had seen it many times before.

Her lips were painted with a dark red lipstick with a small black line in the middle below her bottom lip to her chin, and in the middle of her top lip to the bottom of her nose. She had thick black eyeliner above her eye, with a little tail on both sides

Neo wore a black dress that was opened down the front but wore a half ring of pink flowers from the valley of her breasts down to her hip while she wore her necklaces around her neck. The back of the dress was open and in her hair was a ring of roses creating a halo in her hair.

At the hips of her dress were small sections of laced up parts revealing her hips but not her underwear at any point, although like Ruby she wore no bra. Her hair was let down around her face, framing it beautifully between the three colours.

Like Ruby she wore lipstick, however her top line was decorated a bright pink while her bottom was a bright white. Above her eyes she had mixed pink and white to make a swirling effect above her eyes.

The one thing Neo loved the most out of all of Ruby's physical features were her eyes, she loved Ruby's silver eyes that bore into her soul with every look. Now though her eyes were much more striking with her eyeliner.

Neo favoured light make-up with only light colours to highlight her eyes and lips whereas Ruby had done something completely different.

Her lips were a deep red colour that was darker than even the red tips in her hair while above her eyes they were black with the eyeliner tailing out to make her eyes look like they have black wings on either side.

This made Ruby's eyes stand out even more against the dark colour and when Neo looked closer she saw the tips of the wings were red and not black as it looked like from a distance.

"You look beautiful." Neo said huskily.

Ruby smiled at her as she held out her hand to Neo, saying softly, "You look amazing yourself, would you do me the honour of going to the dance with me?" Ruby said.

Neo laughed gently at Ruby as she accepted the hand readily, having Ruby entwined their arm and hand together. "But of course."

With Neo wearing heels she matched Ruby's height now meaning when they walked side by side Neo didn't need to lean up to kiss her.

"To get this over with quickly, is everything in place?" Neo asked as they were walking through the halls.

"Yes, Aria is going to tell us when Cinder is making her move and I'll go and deal with it. I won't be long and I won't stick around for Ironwood's men either. Will you be alright?" Ruby asked.

"I'll be fine, but the quicker you finish it the better." Neo replied, "That's enough of that, you look beautiful sweetie did Winter help you?" Neo asked.

"What makes you ask that?" Ruby said, feigning hurt.

Neo laughed at Ruby's reaction to her comment as she said, "Unless it's camo paint, you can't do make-up. And this is the first time I've ever seen you in a dress, I was expecting you'd wear a suit. Not that I'm complaining though, I just want to tear that dress off you." Neo said huskily.

"Winter helped me pick it out, and with my make-up but I told her what I wanted. It's strange, we're a lot alike. Some of our views are similar but we had some heathy debates as well, she also loves cookies and strawberries as well. It's weird, I feel like I should know her but I just don't." Ruby said.

"Maybe's she's a long lost relative that you don't know about, I mean you don't know who your father is." Neo suggested.

"I doubt I've any relation to the Schnee line, seems a little too far out there." Ruby replied.

 **A/N**

 **So another chapter down, sorry about it being up late sort of lost track of time yesterday. Can't actually think of too much to say, this is volume two stuff now and I'm going to be blitzing through some of this and basically going to extend out a large amount of things as well.**

 **Also I will be following Volume three stuff as well including the festival but once more going away from cannon unless what I've got planned matches up or is similar to the show itself, which if it is. I CALLED IT!**

 **Thanks for reading and I'll see you next time. ^_^**


	15. Chapter 15

_Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we may die._

 **Chapter 15-**

"I guess. But you do know you'll cause quite a stir don't you?" Neo stated as they came outside seeing all the other students entering the hall. Her words having a double meaning with their conversation.

"Will I?" Ruby asked innocently, not understanding how she'd cause a stir.

Neo shook her head with a smile towards Ruby before saying, "I'm pretty sure you will, the choker alone will be enough but showing your tattoos as well will definitely cause a stir." Neo replied.

"You're showing off your ring." Ruby stated, noticing the ring sitting on Neo's hand on full display. "And it was Winter's idea to show them off after she saw them." Ruby said.

"Of course I am. And I'll have to thank her when I see her." Neo said just as they entered the hall.

They greeted Yang who was at the front welcoming people into the dance before they moved further into the hall itself.

They both heard Yang gasp as she spotted what was on Ruby's back but didn't say anything as they moved away from her quickly.

Ruby let go of Neo only to hold her hand out again to her asking, "May I have this dance?" Ruby asked gently to Neo.

Neo just laughed at Ruby's actions but took her hand as they started dancing to the slow beat of the music, they saw other students who had partnered up for the slow song as well. Ruby led Neo in the dance, surprising Neo in the fact Ruby knew how to dance.

"You got Winter to teach you, didn't you?" Neo asked.

"Why do you say that?" Ruby asked.

"Because you've got two left feet when it comes to dancing." Neo replied.

"I'm hurt that you think that." Ruby said, "But I did learn from Winter." Ruby said teasingly.

"Well I'm glad, otherwise this would have been awkward." Neo replied smiling the whole way.

The pair danced for the better part of an hour before they stopped to get a drink and just relax a little bit. They had quickly gotten away from the people to watch from above, knowing most would ask about Ruby's tattoo or try and talk to them, which was something they didn't want.

Grabbing a drink they stood overlooking the main hall when Winter came up beside them, "Beautiful dance, is it not?" She asked.

"It is, and just what we needed. Time to relax and refresh ourselves, and for some people to let go." Neo said, looking at how carefree people were being, especially Blake who was the most on edge recently.

"Though the talk of the dance is easily you two, Ruby the slightly reclusive student who doesn't attend many lessons because she's supposedly being taught by Ozpin personally and Neo her guardian and a force to be reckoned with." Winter said.

Neo smiled at the comment knowing there was a few instances where people had insulted Ruby or made comments about her, which Neo made sure they wouldn't say again. "What can I say? We can't help it." Neo stated playfully.

"That is very true, though one thing that's mentioned a lot is Ruby's tattoo. I asked her about it the other day but she wouldn't tell me about it, would you care to explain it?" Winter asked.

"Why not ask Ruby now?" Neo said.

Winter just smiled at her stating, "Because I know that's not Ruby, it's you illusion of her that is making it seem like she's here." Winter said.

"How did you know?" Neo asked, wanting to improve her technique if it was obvious it wasn't Ruby.

"Well she compliments it well for you with the fact she doesn't really talk much around others so she would act like she is now. But Ruby told me earlier because I was trying to get her into heels, plus she had her weapons with her earlier." Winter said.

Neo smiled replying, "Ah that makes it easier. Well Ruby's tattoo was done by someone on Patch, I can't remember the name but it uses dust to make it appear how it does." Neo explained.

"What's the meaning behind it? Or rather other than the obvious meaning." Winter asked.

"Fifty roses mean unconditional love which is why there is fifty in the shape of a heart, with my name in the middle, it was rather sweet when she surprised me with this. However the other one that you can sort of see underneath depending how Ruby stands is a wolf head surrounded by black roses, depending how closely you look you can actually see the ears have red tips." Neo explained.

"That's a little dark isn't it? Especially with what they symbolise." Winter replied, a little worried.

Neo remained quiet, unsure what exactly to reply back as she looked towards a group of guards running outside and towards the CCT.

"Hello Cheri." Ruby whispered next to her, replacing the illusion Ruby.

"Hello sweetie, did it go well?" Neo asked the same question Winter wanted to know.

"Yes it did." Ruby said and began to recant her tale.

She had snuck out when Aria informed her of Cinder entering the CCT which was the same time Neo had gotten a drink and went upstairs.

 _Wrapping her cloak around her body and placing her mask onto her face she followed Cinder up the tower. She remained in the shadows while watching the woman take out the guards and upload the virus, seeing the skin tight suit she was wearing which seemed pointless._

 _Once Cinder had finished uploading the virus Ruby revealed herself with Aria speaking for her, "She dwells with beauty, beauty that must die. And joy, whose hand is ever at his lips. His soul must taste the sadness of her might. And be among her cloudy trophies hung." Aria said darkly as Ruby moved from the shadows to become in full view of Cinder, her scythe fully deployed._

 _Cinder turned deploying her bow from her semblance and fired a series of three arrows at Ruby, "Try and defeat this." She stated._

 _Ruby vanished from sight in a flurry of rose petals before reappearing just behind Cinder with her scythe's blade resting against Cinder's neck, no words were spoken but the threat was obvious as the sun returning in the morning._

 _Cinder froze as she felt the blade resting against her neck, feeling that in an instance her life could be ended by the blade._

" _You have one chance, vanish from the world." Aria said, leaving the threat hanging in the air as it was clear what would happen._

 _Cinder felt the blade and the Reaper behind her vanish after the threat was given to her but before she could interpret the words she heard guards coming getting her to quickly escape past them._

"The promise was given, it is up to her as to whether she heeds my warning." Ruby said cryptically.

"I see, well we just have to wait and see." Neo replied.

"Well now that I've said hello, I'm going to find myself someone to dance with." Winter replied smiling.

"Would you care to take Neo for a dance? I believe she wants to get back on the dance floor but I can see Ozpin eyeing me at the moment." Ruby replied.

"Of course." Winter said, holding her hand out to Neo, "My lady." She said.

Neo just laughed at how Winter was being as she turned back to Ruby, "Be quick." Before she was pulled away by Winter towards the dance floor.

Ruby allowed herself to smile watching Neo get pulled away while she remained where she was watching the pair dance happily in the crowd, while receiving some odd stares from a few students.

"It is nice to see the students so carefree and relaxing, it is rare for them to get this chance. Although it seems not all here are relaxed." Ozpin said, his infamous cup in his hand as he leaned against the barrier next to Ruby.

"Some of us don't have that luxury. Time is not always on our side." Ruby replied, not taking her eyes off Neo.

"No time isn't normally, however I believe you have a different reason as to why time isn't on your side, am I correct?" Ozpin asked.

"Cinder planted the virus into the CCT, Aria has contained it and currently working on the programme itself to find out what it does." Ruby said, avoiding the topic easily.

"I see. Have you worked out who gave her the codes to access the CCT and to get into the main system?" Ozpin asked, clearly sensing the topic was out of bounds.

"Not yet, I've narrowed it down however I can't say for certain yet." Ruby replied.

"I see. Well Miss Rose I shall leave you to enjoy the rest of your evening." Ozpin said, walking away before saying, "Before I go, may I ask who you were talking about with Beauty and Joy?" Ozpin asked as an afterthought.

"Cinder of course" Ruby replied, her voice betraying her true thoughts.

"I see." Ozpin said, leaving the woman alone to her thoughts.

Ruby waited to make sure Ozpin had left before she went back down, cutting in with Winter and Neo as she took back her partner to dance with again.

For the rest of the night the pair just enjoyed the calm before the storm, spending it with just the two of them being normal people on a date to a dance.

Neo had noticed it before Ruby had as they were dancing, she spotted Winter and Blake dancing together not too far away from them and when she pointed it out to Ruby her only reply was.

"Winter said she was going with someone, I didn't realise it would be Blake." Ruby replied.

* * *

 _With Winter and Blake._

"May I cut in?" Winter asked, approaching Yang and Blake who were dancing together.

Yang looked at Winter for a few seconds before stepping away and allowing Winter to dance with Blake.

"It's a wonderful dance isn't it?" Winter asked as she started leading Blake through the next song.

"It is. Yang and Weiss worked hard on making it something that everyone can enjoy and just unwind." Blake replied.

"And are you unwinding?" Winter asked next.

Blake just smiled lightly as she said, "As best I can, although there are a few things on my mind." She replied.

"Oh well that's not good, what's on your mind?" Winter asked as she spun Blake.

"Well I want to know why you asked me to the dance, you could have picked anyone but you picked me, a Faunus. Why?" Blake asked, her worry and unease slipping into her voice.

Winter just glanced around the room briefly before saying, "I'm rather thirsty, would you like a drink?" Winter asked.

Blake worked out what the excuse was for and nodded in agreement as Winter led them towards the drinks table and out of the way of everyone.

"Why wouldn't I want to ask you to the dance? You're a beautiful woman and easy to talk to, understanding and just fun to be around. So why wouldn't I?" Winter asked.

"But I'm a Faunus, you're a Schnee. We shouldn't be getting along." Blake exclaimed.

"Why shouldn't we? Because the man I call a father says so? Because the White Fang say that Faunus shouldn't get close to a Schnee unless it's to kill one? Which is it?" Winter asked harshly to Blake.

Blake kept silent as she looked away from Winter, unsure how to answer the question and not wanting to answer it.

"Sorry, it's just stupid. I don't follow my father's ideals, Faunus are people all the same and well to me it doesn't matter what you are to me. You're kind, easy to talk to and just fun to be around so that's why I like you and asked you to the dance. So what if some people don't like the fact a human and Faunus are together, it doesn't matter to me. Does it matter to you?" Winter asked.

"No." Blake replied in a whisper.

"Good. Now how about we dance some more before the party is over?" Winter asked, smiling brightly as she held her arm out.

Her smile only grew when Blake replied with a smile of her own and taking her arm as they went to the dance floor once more.

With everything that was going on around them, with the White Fang, Cinder, Roman and just society in general. Neither woman cared as they simply lost themselves in the rhythm of the music and the movements of their bodies in time with it. Worries escaping them for at least a short time before tomorrow came again.

 _They say that either you're out, or you're in_

* * *

After a few more hours the dance starting to slow down as people left, but not before JNPR's performance in front of everyone. After that everyone seemed to slowly trickle out of the hall all heading back to their rooms either alone or with someone.

When Ruby and Neo returned to their room it was peaceful as they both undressed for bed with Neo commenting, "It seems your tattoos surprised a lot of people tonight." Neo pointed out.

Ruby just shrugged her shoulders as she pulled Neo into the bed with her and underneath the covers.

"Are you going to be alright?" Neo asked after a little while of both women attempting to sleep.

"I'll be fine Cheri." Ruby replied with a gentle kiss.

"If you're sure. You'll tell me if something is wrong, right?" Neo asked.

"Of course I will." Ruby said, kissing Neo once more as the pair fell asleep in each other's arms.

 **A/N**

 **So this ending has a double meaning, you'll see soon enough.**

 **So latest episode, episode 2 is amazing. It has really gotten so much better and well Qrow is different and we see who Gavin voices, at least I'm pretty sure it's him.**

 **Now I will be writing about the festival and past it, currently around that point now but one thing I'm debating at the moment is who Ruby and Neo plus two other people will fight, at least in the first match of four vs four. I'd want it to be one of the new teams but I'm open to it being another team or possibly an OC team. Do note though if I go with an OC team they'd have the shit kicked out of them by Ruby and Neo.**

 **Not much else to add at the moment, so thanks for reading and until next time. ^_^**

 **Also internet cookie if anyone recognises the song lyric ;)**


	16. Chapter 16

" _You're the predator right up until you're prey."_

― _James S.A. Corey, Abaddon's Gate_

 **Chapter 16-**

For the next couple of days everything remained quiet as school life carried on with students attending their regular lessons, however this quiet was broken one evening when Ruby got a call on a burner scroll she had.

"Hey Red, you said to ever call if Yang or any of those other students came to the club again. Well Yang's turned up with some blue haired guy, asking some questions about the Torchwick and looking for information. I'm about to see them, just giving you a heads up." Junior's voice said through the scroll, Ruby didn't bother to reply as she was already moving when another message came through, this time in her ear.

"Sweetie, I've just spotted Blake and Sun at a White Fang meeting. I can't do anything because I'm next to Roman but they've seen me, wait. Oh shit! They've been discovered and Roman's chasing them down with a fucking Paladin. Shit I can't do anything." Neo said quickly through their link, the panic evident in her voice.

"Maintain cover, I'm on my way." Ruby replied quickly.

"Naomi! Where are you?" Ruby asked through her scroll.

"I'm on the landing dock, I'm just delivering your bike." Naomi replied.

"Trouble in town, need a lift. Keep the bike on there." Ruby said quickly and briefly.

"Got it, turning and burning. Three minutes to power." Naomi said, the sound of the engines starting up coming through the scroll as she spoke, used to fast responses.

Ruby arrived at the Bullhead to see the rear ramp open and her bike sitting neatly tied down in the middle of the cargo area. Seconds after Ruby climbed on board the aircraft was in the air with the hatch closing in mid-air before shooting off towards the city.

"Police reports coming in about a Paladin tearing through the highway with people running from it but also some people fighting it as well. I'm assuming that's your lot." Naomi stated.

"It is. Get me to the highway, I'll drive out the back." Ruby replied, getting her bike ready to start up.

"Got it. I'll give you a thirty second warning." Naomi informed Ruby before she activated her radio, "This is Blackbird Zero-One inbound to Vale central highway in response to the call, I have a Huntress aboard. All police forces to back off and provide support." Naomi said over the police radios.

"This is Atlas military QRF One, inbound to highway, tell the Huntress to stand down we've got this." An arrogant, male voice replied back.

"Negative QRF One, Huntress supersedes all military authority stand down and provide support." Naomi replied back calmly before a heated reply came back to her from the same person, "You are operating under Vale Kingdom laws and Huntresses supersede all authority." Naomi said calmly and while reluctant they accepted their role.

Meanwhile Ruby was in the back half listening to the conversation as she wrapped her cloak around her body tighter alongside making sure her mask was secure. With that and her weapon secured she got her bike ready.

Sliding into the saddle once the ropes were off she turned the bike on making it roar out in the cargo bay as she revved the engine to make sure it was all ok after not being used for a while.

"Thirty seconds. I've got eyes on the Paladin and a clear drop point below it. Opening rear hatch." Naomi called out for Ruby, and as she spoke the rear hatch all opened up allowing the sounds of fighting and traffic coming up from below.

"Five, four, three, two, one!" Naomi shouted over the noise of the engines and the ground,

Ruby let herself roll back out of the aircraft, Naomi having gotten close enough to the ground that it didn't affect Ruby's bike too much although the suspension was heavily modified to handle the drops.

As soon as the back wheel touched the ground Ruby was already accelerating away underneath the Bullhead as Naomi brought it back up into the air, her earpiece crackling as Naomi issued new orders.

"Police and QRF One, get civilians clear and the injured seen to. Huntress is on the ground and on the move." Naomi ordered them all as she pulled away.

Ruby wasn't paying attention to this as she her attention focused on the Paladin, it wasn't even on the market yet with the Atlas military having the only available models at the moment but Ruby knew all the weaknesses of the machine.

She spotted Yang on her bike with Weiss on the back chasing after the large robot while Blake was ahead jumping from car to car to get away from it.

Ruby sped past Yang and Weiss easily, her bike being able to accelerate much faster and reach higher speeds quickly without any issue meaning she over took her and reached the Paladin with ease.

Getting up close Ruby threw a series of knives towards the feet and knee joints to make the Paladin unstable before backing off as Roman attempted to hit her only to come back once more.

Next she deployed her scythe with one hand Ruby weaved between cars until she reached Roman inside the large suit, firing as she went hitting the weaker leg joints which were mostly unarmoured. This didn't do much except make the legs more unstable allowing Ruby to jump up and using her momentum and her semblance to enhance the force of the blow she knocked the Paladin off the side of the highway and away from all the civilians.

"Aria, take over." Ruby ordered as she jumped off the edge with WBY following after her. While Aria's body materialised on Ruby's bike, driving away from the scene for the moment.

"Red." Roman growled out as he spotted the familiar red cloak.

"Weiss, ice sheet!" Aria ordered, speaking for Ruby. "Yang follow it up by blasting the ice." Aria ordered to the blonde woman.

Weiss and Yang did as instructed and once Yang hit the ice it all turned to mist allowing red laser sights to be seen coming out from the Paladin.

The girls didn't need any more instructions as they began hitting the camera's and weapons that used the laser sight.

"Barrage." Aria called out, easily predicting Roman's next move now that a lot of his weapons were useless alongside his sight of the outside world.

True to her word Roman launched a barrage of missiles but thanks to Aria's warning they were all ready for it as Blake took the majority of them out with her bow and sword while Ruby picked off some of the ones Blake missed.

"Ice glyph." Aria called out as Ruby buried her scythe into the ground to support her firing it.

Getting the hint Weiss put an ice glyph in front of Ruby's barrel allowing her to shoot freeze rounds at the Paladin, freezing joints and key points together so Roman couldn't move.

Already with a plan in her head Yang had gotten Blake to deploy her bow for her to hold on to while Blake, with some help from Yang's gauntlet's propelling herself forward they were able to get the power to smash straight into the cockpit of the Paladin, breaking the suit apart and Roman falling to the ground.

"That's cute, real cute that you think I'd be that unprepared." Roman stated, getting up slowly with a clear injury to his leg but he remained defiant as he shouted, "Oh Neo!"

Shocking both Yang and Weiss, Neo jumped down in front of Roman, her parasol held open and out in front of her as they stood still.

Angry Yang charged forward firing her gauntlet at the pair of criminals exploded into thousands of shards while Roman called from above.

"Uh bye bye girls." He called while waving at the girls.

"Naomi, pick up." Ruby said softly so the others didn't hear.

"In bound, bike secured." Naomi informed her but kept it brief.

Within seconds Naomi had landed in front of them and while Yang was turning to Ruby to say something about Neo, Aria beat her to it.

"In. Now." Aria said curtly. All three girls were able to read Ruby's body language which was rare itself but it was clear she was angry.

Although Yang and Weiss interpreted this anger to be because of Neo while Blake saw as clear as day that the anger was directed towards them as she hung her head down in shame, but as Ruby moved past her she moved her head up.

The three girls all got inside the Bullhead while Ruby blitzed past them all to sit in the empty co-pilot seat. Naomi already handing over her box of roll ups she had prepared earlier that day alongside her lighter.

"Area secure, Huntress retrieved. Suspect escaped with an unknown individual." Naomi informed them all as a brief report.

While Ruby was in the front Aria moved down and sat next to Blake to whisper in her ear, "Never hold your head down in shame, stand by your decisions and do not be shameful about them. Aria said softly before vanishing once more.

When they arrived back to the school it was in pure silence as the three girls all stood outside waiting for Ruby who took a few minutes inside to make sure everything was good with Naomi.

"My room. Now!" Ruby said, Aria no longer talker for her nor did she have her mask or hood on but a cigarette in her hand.

"Ruby…" Yang started to say before getting interrupted. "Now!" Ruby reinforced.

The three girls all obeyed as they went to Ruby room, finding the door unlocked and Aria sitting in a chair in the room. "Take a seat, Mother will be here shortly." Aria stated, keeping her eyes looking out the window but not at them.

Ruby practically slammed open her door as she came storming into her room, mask and cloak thrown onto the bed as she turned to Aria, "Aria would you mind jumping away for a few minutes? I'll let you know when it's ok." Ruby asked gently.

"Of course mother." Aria said, vanishing from sight as she jumped away.

"I'm sorry Ruby, I know you loved Neo but she's working for Roman now. I knew she was bad." Yang said, as she stood up.

"Sit down and don't talk." Ruby said coldly, pointing her finger at Yang.

"Ruby I know you're upset about Neo but…" Yang started to but Ruby just pointed down at the bed while glaring at the blonde woman.

"I told you not get involved, I especially told you Blake to get some rest and leave it to me. I would keep you informed but you are so damned lucky Neo was there to tell me what happened otherwise you'd likely be paste on the highway." Ruby said coldly to them all.

"And Yang should I mention you returned to the club which you destroyed before coming to the school? Should I mention that Junior wanted to kill you for what you did before? The only reason he didn't is because he's more scared of getting on my bad side then he is of you." Ruby spat out at Yang.

"You are students, not trained Huntresses. If anything its Ozpin being too lenient allowing you to carry on investigating an organisation that fully trained Hunters and soldiers have struggled to stop. But I will not be as lenient, you can and will get killed if you keep this up. Focus on your school life, enjoy it and learn all you can. But if I catch you going after Roman or the White Fang again I will do much more than shout at you." Ruby shouted at them.

"But Neo…" Yang attempted to start.

"Enough about Neo. We are promised to each other, or does that mean so little to you? Someone who barely knows us or me. You wish to assume parts of our relationship and throw accusations around as you please. It stops here, I tolerated it because Neo said it wasn't your fault and you'd change." Ruby said, leaving it to hang in the air for a few seconds.

"But I won't, Neo is still with me and what she's doing has my blessing as well as hers. But if I hear you badmouth Neo or assume anything about my relationship with her I promise you will not be able to stand, let alone walk for an entire month. Have I made myself clear?" Ruby shouted directly at Yang.

"But…" Yang attempted weakly.

"Have I made myself clear?" Ruby reinforced, her voice colder with her threat seconds from being delivered.

"Crystal." Yang said, gulping as she looked into Ruby's eyes seeing the fire in them burn bright.

"Good. Now you will leave this well enough alone and carry on with school, go." Ruby said, directing them out.

Yang left quickly with her tail between her legs, not wanting to anger Ruby even more while Weiss was a little slower while Blake didn't move.

"We can help and you know it." Blake said, leaving Ruby alone to her thoughts.

 **A/N**

 **So sorry about the lateness but I was too tired last night to actually do much but seat down and listen to some stuff.**

 **I really enjoyed writing this chapter, with certain fight scenes I just thoroughly enjoy them, especially because of the mixture of the bike and then using some stuff from the show. (All from memory.)**

 **I spoke about this with someone a few weeks or month ago. In my head Vale has a standing military but they are there to provide support for Hunters/Huntresses, with them having the best school for it in the world than it makes sense so Hunter/Huntress authority supersedes all. Whereas in Atlas this isn't the case, we've already seen the very large military and what they're doing so it reasons to believe that (Especially with Penny.) they either don't have Hunters/Huntresses to a good enough standard or they simply don't get enough of them. I know the counterpoint about Vale having a military because why would they use Atlas' etc.**

 **But yeah, that's my take on it. Not much else to say except that on Saturday the chapter will be out earlier for two reasons. No episode 3 for RWBY but also because of Rooster Teeth doing Extra life. The streams are always amazing and I highly recommend watching it but also just to support them as well, it all goes to a good cause which I'm sure they'll show, they raised around US$440,000 last time and the aim is half a million this year, so yeah pretty big and all for a children's hospital.**

 **Next week's update as well will have some other words in it from me because it's Remembrance on Wednesday.**

 **But that's it from me. So thanks for reading and until next time. ^_^**

 **( PS any artist reading the story and would like to draw something for it, just send me a PM. I am tempted to have something commissioned but won't be for a while yet anyway. Also you'll hate me by around this Sunday next week ;) )**


	17. Chapter 17

_I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, "Mother, what was war?"_

 _~Eve Merriam_

 **Chapter 17-**

For the next week Ruby didn't sleep, she couldn't sleep without Neo there. She trained constantly and at night would sit in the library reading or creating plans for something the others were unable to understand. In one of her lessons however it was clear something was up.

"Today I'm going to keep it simple, I want to impose something on you seeing that the Atlas military has decided to stay in Vale for the foreseeable future." Aria said aloud, gathering the students around a table with grey webbing on top.

"This is standard webbing that all soldiers wear, with me is Captain Naomi who is playing model for me." Aria said, pointing to the tall woman next to the table.

"Every single soldier has webbing when they go into combat, I myself use pouches in a similar way. Every soldier has their webbing laid out the same, this is so if one were to fall then other soldiers would know where their ammo was, first aid and so on." Aria said.

"The front two pouches on either side of the waist contain ammo for their weapons, after that is grenades. On the two pouches sitting on the chest is first aid materials while another pouch I have contains a high beam, long range distress beacon." Aria informed them as Naomi showed them the different pouches and talking through them in more detail.

When they had finished explaining everything Aria then said, "Alright that's all I wanted to add, we're going to do hand to hand drills." Aria stated but before the students could move Ruby seemed to be struggling as she held her hand against the desk.

Crouching down Aria and Naomi, who was close enough to hear Ruby struggle to breathe correctly but barely thirty seconds later Ruby seemed to recover and stand back up straight. "Come on." Aria stated.

After that single event class continued on as normal but Blake had noticed Ruby's struggle to breathe but she didn't know what caused it, it didn't help either that she saw Ruby for most nights in the library.

Blake saw Ruby in the library most nights, wide awake either with a book in hand or on her scroll. When she saw her for almost an entire week each night in the library Blake started to grow worried about the woman and although she couldn't see her face she knew she would be tired as well.

In the end the person they least expected to care decided to do something, Weiss had gone to Ruby's room in an effort to talk to the woman to get her to calm down with her training and to attempt to sleep.

Knocking lightly on the door Weiss heard no answer so tried the door, finding it unlocked she slowly opened it to find a visible Aria standing in front of Ruby, the pair arguing rather loudly.

"You need to sleep!" Aria shouted at Ruby.

"I'm fine Aria, why don't you go exploring?" Ruby said calmly.

"No! You haven't slept since Neo left. You need to sleep, and rest! Not constantly train, you'll exhaust yourself again." Aria replied back hotly.

"I'm fine Aria, I know my limits." Ruby replied back.

"No you don't. You forget I know your health. You're close to Aura exhaustion. You know you can't do it again, it'll only accelerate…" Aria explained.

"I know Aria. You don't need to remind me of that." Ruby said coldly.

"Neo said to contact her if you were pushing yourself too hard, I will do it." Aria threatened.

"Don't. Neo has enough to worry about." Ruby said.

"Then go and sleep, or I will call Neo." Aria said, making sure Ruby knew what would happen.

"We have a guest." Ruby said turning to see a sheepish looking Weiss standing by the door, feeling out of place.

"What's wrong Weiss?" Ruby asked while Aria vanished.

"I uh, I wanted to say that you've been pushing us and yourself too hard." Weiss said, gaining back her confidence.

Ruby just laughed humourlessly at Weiss, "Seems everyone's worried about me. I'm fine Weiss, don't worry about me." Ruby replied.

"But you're not. I can see how tired you are already, when was the last time you slept?" Weiss stated.

"About a week and a half ago, but I'm fine. I can go for a long time without sleep." Ruby said.

"Just because you can doesn't mean you should. You need to sleep, there's nothing you can do if you're too tired." Weiss said.

"I'm fine." Ruby said once more, "You can show yourself out, I've got to go." Ruby said, picking up her weapons and leaving the room.

Weiss watched as Ruby left the room and was about to leave herself when she heard Aria speak behind her.

"She won't rest without Neo here, we need to force her too before she collapses again." Aria stated.

"How do we do that though? It seems like she won't stop for anything." Weiss said, turning to look at Aria.

"I don't really know, Neo's the only person I know who can get Ruby to stop. But we have to do something." Aria said.

Weiss thought for a full minute before she thought of an idea of what she could do to help Ruby sleep and to hopefully rest long enough, "I have an idea." Weiss said, rushing out of the room.

Ruby was currently in the schools arena with a sword in one hand and a pistol in the other as she practised against combat androids.

Ducking underneath the blade of one while parrying the blade of the next, Ruby fired at the two hitting them directly in the head shutting them down for a few seconds before they reactivated.

But Ruby was already moving onto a group of three all rushing her with their swords. Ruby used her semblance to block each strike before hitting them to shut them down.

Mizu Schnee came into the room and stood on the edge of the arena as she watched Ruby practise with the androids, they were some of the best in the world where they had an adaptive programme that allowed them to fight as almost real people against someone, meaning they were great for training.

They could be given any weapon the user chose to, and it seemed Ruby had chosen swords to practise against while using her own.

Mizu was happy to watch the fighting, enjoying how Ruby seemed to dance instead of the brute force style most people had now but it seemed Ruby understood that fighting itself was a dance, but it was a dance of death no matter what.

She changed her attention to the androids which was when she noticed the normally blunt blades with the tips not able to physically hurt someone was not replaced with sharp edges and a pointed, sharp tip meaning Ruby was in danger and she could already see a point where Ruby had been cut.

"Shut down!" Mizu shouted, entering into the arena. When they didn't stop moving she shouted again, "Shut down training!" Mizu shouted out but one of them seemed to change their focus towards the woman instead of Ruby.

Ruby spotted the android heading towards Mizu and opened fire with her pistol while she ran to a button on the side of the arena to shut them all down.

Ruby reached the button before the android could harm Mizu but this only invoked a different kind of wrath heading her way.

"What the hell were you thinking? The training androids are never allowed to have sharp weapons nor can they not be disabled using voice commands. I should have been able to disable them easily." Mizu shouted at Ruby, grabbing the woman's arm and dragging her away from the arena.

"I was fine, I could easily get to the shutdown button and I was safe with them. Training with blunt edges takes away the risk." Ruby explained trying to get free of Mizu's surprisingly strong grip.

"Clearly you weren't, you got hit by one. And don't try to get free I'm dragging you back to your room." Mizu said harshly to the slightly taller woman.

"I wasn't paying attention, I miscalculated an attack which meant I got hit." Ruby explained, stopping her struggling and walked alongside Mizu dragging her back to her room.

"Why hasn't your Aura healed it yet?" Mizu asked accusingly.

When Ruby stayed silent Mizu just sighed out, "That's what I thought. Your Aura hasn't properly recharged has it? You've been constantly awake and training and whatever else you've been doing, you've been drawing on your Aura to sustain you haven't you?" Mizu said softly, her tone not accusing but worried.

Once more Ruby stayed silent and upon reaching her room Mizu released Ruby and said, "Sit on the bed and strip down." Mizu said but she saw Ruby's reluctance, "I've got two daughters, I've already seen it all." She said, trying to ease Ruby's worry a little.

Ruby just nodded her head as she begun taking her cloak and clothes off until she only had her underwear on.

Mizu went into the wardrobe in the room, retrieving the first aid kit inside and opened it up on the bed. She was shocked to find the first aid kit fully stocked up with everything one might need but also the fact that there was a large amount of Aura syringes inside.

"Why have you got so many of them?" Mizu asked as she took out some anti-septic and bandages.

"We have a need for them. My Aura levels go quite low very often so I need these to help me." Ruby explained.

Taking the anti-septic wipes Mizu went about cleaning Ruby's cut who showed no emotion as she gently cleaned the blood away. "Have you seen a doctor? Your Aura levels shouldn't go down as often as they clearly do." She stated.

"I have." Ruby said bluntly but her tone showed the topic was not up for discussion.

Mizu remained silent as she wrapped Ruby's arm in a bandage and tied it off tightly to make sure it wouldn't fall off, "I'm not giving you an injection so that'll have to heal on its own." Mizu stated as she packed the kit away and put it back where she found it.

She was surprised to find that the wound hadn't already healed, which only reinforced what her daughter had told her about Ruby's Aura exhaustion.

After doing this she laid down on the bed next to Ruby, pulling the woman with her and leaned her against her own chest, "Now why don't you tell me why I've had both my daughters and their team members come to me about you training them extremely hard and the fact you haven't slept in a week and a half?" Mizu asked kindly, her tone soft and motherly.

"It's just that, I haven't slept since Neo left and been pushing my students to get better." Ruby said plainly.

"Really? Is it because Weiss and her team went after Roman and the White Fang that you're punishing them for doing it?" Mizu asked, once more her voice was never angry but held a motherly tone Ruby had not heard in years.

"Of course not, I'm annoyed that they did that, angry even but I wouldn't punish them like that. I just want them to get better." Ruby said.

"Well I can understand that however you've been pushing them too hard, they've barely been able to stay upright when leaving the class." Mizu informed her.

"I'll have to work on their endurance then." Ruby stated.

"Maybe. But what about yourself? You've been pushing yourself too hard, it's clear that your Aura levels are dangerously low once more. I've even had Aria speaking to me. And Blake noticed the other day, you couldn't breathe properly for about thirty seconds." Mizu said.

"I'm sorry I worried Aria and you, but I'm fine. Really. And I get short of breath sometimes." Ruby attempted to say.

"You're not, we both know it so why don't you save that little lie for someone else?" Mizu gently suggested.

"But I am fine, I need to go to the library to work on something." Ruby said, attempting to get out of it but when she attempted to stand up Mizu only just pulled her back down.

"Oh no, you're staying right here. I don't care what you do but you are not leaving this bed. You are going to rest." Mizu said firmly her tone brokering no argument.

Rather than argue with the woman as she knew she would lose easily, Ruby just pulled out her scroll and a book she was reading earlier that day.

Mizu smiled softly as she found that Ruby didn't bother to argue back and she didn't say anything when Mizu removed her headphones and started to gently stroke her hair.

After only a few minutes Mizu noticed Ruby's breathing slowing down and her scroll had fallen out of her hand and onto the bed.

Mizu didn't stop stroking Ruby's ears or her hair but slowly she started to cry silently, not wanting to wake Ruby from clearly the first time she had gotten sleep in so long.

She allowed herself to cry over what she had lost, if she hadn't been so weak to her father's wishes than maybe the world would be different, Summer would still be alive and by her side. She would have raised Ruby as she should have and not allowed all of this to happen. Maybe the Faunus would have gotten equal rights and all this needless death could have been avoided, so many what if scenarios were running through her brain she didn't hear the door open.

Nor did she realise when her daughter, Winter come and knee down next to the two women on the bed where she noticed her mother crying, "Mother what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Winter asked, keeping her voice soft as to not wake Ruby.

"It's nothing sweetie, I'm fine." Mizu said.

"Mother I know it's something to do with Ruby, I've seen how you look at her. I remember when she revealed she was a wolf Faunus to us and how you seemed lost in memory. And now you're crying with Ruby in your arms, you can tell me anything." Winter said, attempting to comfort her mother.

Mizu didn't know what made her tell her daughter, nor could she recall. Maybe it was because here was the daughter she left alone in the world, maybe it was because she just felt weak at that moment and having it all pent up for too long she just needed someone to tell.

"Before I married your father, I was training to be a Huntress with a team, it was Qrow who you met, Raven and a woman called Summer. Summer was amazing, she had a skill with a sword that barely anyone could ever match and a speed that was unbelievably at the time. She was the leader of our team through those four years in school and a further two years afterwards. And she was my best friend." Mizu started to say, her voice full of love.

"After about a year into school Summer revealed her Faunus heritage, although reluctant as I was a Schnee and we had a certain reputation with Faunus, even back then. But when she discovered I was nothing like that she admitted it. We later discovered Raven already knew but she never told us why." Mizu revealed, as Winter listened eagerly.

"After she revealed her secret it went on normally for a couple months before we started dating each other, secretly of course. Your grandfather would have killed me if he found out so we kept it secret from even out team, however they suspected about it." Mizu explained.

"So what happened?" Winter asked, seeing her mother stop.

"Life happened. We were together for just under five years when I broke it off because your grandfather had set me up with the man I was to marry. Summer wasn't happy with this, she was getting ready to storm to my Grandfathers house and demand my hand in marriage instead but I talked her out of it, we decided, although reluctant as she was to break it off but she wanted a child with me." Mizu said sadly.

"How's that possible? Two women can't have a child can they?" Winter asked.

"Dust, it's a marvellous thing and I was able to create a method to use my egg and hers to create a baby, I never made it known I knew how to do this or told anyone but Summer. I offered to support her, every week I would send money into her account but she had just vanished from the face of the planet, I didn't even know the pregnancy was successful or not." Mizu said, growing upset at remembering the events.

"I knew Summer wasn't happy at what I did, the fact that I chose my company over her made her so angry and upset, so she vanished and I never had any contact with her or anyone else I knew from my Huntress days." Mizu said, biting back a sob.

"Ruby was her daughter wasn't she? The last wolf Faunus." Winter stated.

"She is, Qrow confirmed it for me. I also discovered from Neo that Ruby has a large amount of money she's never touched from her mother, it's the money I sent she left it all to her." Mizu said.

"Does she know?" Winter asked.

"No, every time I work up the courage to tell her something gets in the way or something's happened so I can't tell her. And I just don't know what to say, or predict how she would react to it, I know she's been searching for her father but has drawn up blanks." Mizu said.

"Did you ever try and look for Summer?" Winter asked.

"I tried, as hard as I could. I thought that maybe if I take over the company and stop all the slave labour and Faunus harming that maybe I could find her again and marry her, but that's impossible now." Mizu said sadly, tears falling down her face constantly.

Winter leaned over Ruby, hugging her mother to offer some sort of comfort to her as she said, "You need to tell Ruby, sooner rather than later. I think somethings going to happen, something big. They are evasive over certain things, like Ruby's tattoos. I was speaking to Blake about it and they avoided some of her questions over them." Winter informed her.

"Blake? Is there something going on?" Mizu asked teasingly, trying to cheer herself up a little.

"We're just friends, we talk. She's rather nice and easy to talk to." Winter replied calmly.

"Well I wouldn't let something like that go. I saw you both at the dance as well." Mizu said smiling slightly, teasing her daughter.

"Going back to our topic, you need to talk to Ruby before something else happens, you saw what she was like after saving Blake." Winter stated.

"I know, and I will when I can, I promise." Mizu said, "You're taking this all rather calmly." She pointed out.

Winter just shrugged her shoulders, "I know you don't love father, you barely tolerate him on a good day and well I've noticed since meeting Ruby that somethings been off." Winter pointed out.

"I guess I have been a little bit. But for now I'm going to enjoy just holding Ruby as she sleeps." Mizu said with a smile.

Winter stayed for a little longer talking to her mother about the school and some of the events coming up in the school, most notably the tournament that wasn't very far away and what they would be doing for it.

After about an hour and with Mizu growing tired, Winter left the room to go to her own to sleep while leaving the two women alone.

 **A/N**

 **Not much to say, chapters slightly longer than normal but a lot has been covered in this one. We see a little more of Winter, Ruby and Mizu.**

 **Oh and the webbing part was something that I'm pretty sure is true, read it in a book written by an ex Green Beret and well I wanted to use it.**

 **Main thing I want to say is Rooster Teeth are doing their Extra Life stream at the moment, and it's been amazing. The RWBY stuff has already been done and shown, alongside a trailer for next week. We see Winter and Qrow alongside their fight. Oh and Winter is a duel wielder with two rapiers it seems and well we've seen Qrow's one.**

 **That's it I guess, go and check out the stream and you can buy the limited edition poster which I've done or donate directly. Or both.**

 **Also while I'm awake for a silly amount of time tonight I might look at writing a one shot with fairly adult themes after a picture I saw of Ruby with bunny ears and a certain kind of costume. ;) Still debating it.**

 **Until next time. ^_^**


	18. Chapter 18

_When the rich wage war, it's the poor who die._

 _~Jean-Paul Sartre_

 **Chapter 18-**

The next morning when Mizu woke up she found Ruby still asleep in her arms, however she had curled up against Mizu in her sleep.

Mizu allowed her to simply sleep she became lost in thought once more until her stomach decided to make itself known to both women.

Mizu looked down to Ruby to see silver eyes staring back at her causing her to jump in surprise, "Sorry." Ruby said.

"Its fine, I just thought you were asleep." Mizu replied.

"You're hungry." Ruby stated, not asking at all.

"I am, and I think you are as well. You didn't eat last night." Mizu stated already knowing the woman hadn't eaten.

Ruby didn't answer as she climbed out of the bed to get dressed whereas Mizu had fallen asleep in her clothes. Attaching her large array of weapons onto her body alongside the clothes that hid them as they prepared to leave Ruby said, "Thank you." To the other woman.

Mizu didn't answer as she already knew what Ruby meant by her thanks and it was clear Ruby wasn't going to speak any more on that topic.

They went to the cafeteria to get something to eat, and upon sitting down to eat their full breakfast Mizu asked, "There is the mission for students coming up, isn't there?" She asked as she took a bite of her food.

"There is, a teacher is supposed to be present to provide support and to teach them, however because I am a teacher I will be taking my team to Mount Glenn." Ruby informed her.

"I see, so normally there would be a four man team alongside a teacher would go onto a Hunter mission, correct? But why are you going to Mount Glenn?" Mizu asked.

"Because that's where Neo is." Ruby said plainly.

"I see, so you're going after Neo." Mizu stated.

"She's with Roman, so where she is that's where Roman is." Ruby replied, finishing her small breakfast while Mizu was still eating.

"I see. So normally it is a four person team, right?" Mizu asked once more.

"Correct however our team was made into a five person team because of Neo and I." Ruby informed her.

"I see, but with you as the teacher and Neo not here it means the team has only three members." Mizu said and seeing Ruby nod in response made her decide to ask, "What if you took Winter with you? She could act as the fourth person and also get some valuable experience." Mizu suggested.

"If she wishes to, I don't see why not. She attends all my lessons and takes part so it's only fair." Ruby informed her.

"What's this about me?" Winter asked, sitting down next to Ruby with her own breakfast alongside handing over some more food to Ruby who tried to stop her but failed.

"You need to eat more food, so eat up." Winter stated as she asked her questioned again.

"Would you like to go with Ruby and her team on their mission to Mount Glenn?" Mizu asked her daughter.

"Of course I do. Am I able to?" Winter asked excitedly.

"I can clear it with Ozpin in a little bit, we leave tomorrow at zero six hundred." Ruby stated, eating the extra toast that Winter had given her.

"Is there anything I need to bring?" Winter asked unsure what she would need.

"Your weapon, I've got food sorted out alongside water so you don't need to worry about that." Ruby said, quickly finishing her food as she got up, "I need to speak to Ozpin about something. I'll see you later." Ruby saidJust as Ruby left the rest of her team arrived at the table noticing that Ruby looked more rested and seemed a little calmer than the day before.

As the three women sat down with their breakfast there was a quick shared look between Winter and her mother as Winter looked towards Weiss and then to her mother silently asking if they should tell her, which Mizu only shook her head in response.

"So you got Ruby to rest I see." Weiss said as she sat down. "Is she angry at us?" She asked as well.

"I did, and she's not angry she just wants to push you to be better. I don't know why but it's what she said." Mizu informed her other daughter and her friends.

"How did you get her to sleep? We couldn't even get her to take a break." Yang said.

"I forced her to. She wasn't going to hurt me and I just pulled her into bed and held her, she quickly fell asleep once she stopped doing something." Mizu said easily, not affected by the looks she was getting.

"You slept with her?" Yang asked stunned, prompting Weiss to hit her arm at the comment.

"We shared a bed and she was curled in my arms like her mother used to do." Mizu said, not realising what she had said until after she had already spoken.

"You knew her mother?" Blake asked, shocked at the news.

"Yes, I was on a team with her, Raven and Qrow." Mizu said, hoping to avoid the other questions and it seemed her eldest daughter came to her rescue.

"I'm going to be joining you when you go to Mount Glenn with Ruby tomorrow." Winter said excitedly.

"Really? Why's that?" Yang asked, easily following the change in topics while Blake and Weiss seemed a little suspicious at the abrupt change.

"Well it's so I can get some real world experience, Ruby's going to clear it with Ozpin but I'll be joining you." Winter said happily.

The rest of the conversation fell onto the topic of the mission itself and what they knew about the area but they all drew up blanks, and while Mizu knew the mountain area itself she didn't know where they would be going so decided it was best to allow Ruby to explain it.

The next morning at six in the morning on the dot the four women went to the docks and spotted Naomi and Ruby, dressed in her Reaper gear standing by Naomi's special Bullhead.

"Hello ladies, got everything?" Naomi asked as they approached.

Seeing nods all round Naomi said, "Alright then, everyone get in it's about an hour to Mount Glenn." Naomi stated, getting into the cockpit beside Ruby.

The four women all climbed inside and waited as they took off and headed towards the mountains, about over half way into the journey Ruby had come into the cargo area and sat down in the middle, getting them all close so she could talk.

"I'm sorry for pushing you so much, I'm just trying to help you improve. I wasn't punishing you for what you did, it's why I asked Ozpin for you to join me. Originally you were going with Professor Oobleck to Mistral on a routine patrol but I got it changed so you went with me here." Ruby told them.

"Where's here exactly? We know its Mount Glenn but not much else." Weiss asked.

"We're going to a small area in Mount Glenn where Vale had tried but failed to expand its boarders. This failed when they realised that the Grimm were much more persistent then they thought which led to the project being abandoned. Currently Roman is in this area doing something, I was planning to go by myself." Ruby started to explain.

"I changed my mind when I realised that you would only keep looking into Roman behind my back, so the best way to make sure you're all safe is if I let you help me. Which is where we are now, Roman is here somewhere but we need to clear out the Grimm first before anything else so we have a safe area to work in." Ruby informed them all, making them know of the plan.

"So just kill all the Grimm we see?" Yang asked.

"A little more refined but yes." Ruby said.

"Five minutes out, want to start getting ready ladies." Naomi shouted out to them.

"There are bags stored above you. Grab one each, that's your supplies for the next few days." Ruby informed them all as they reached up to grab a small duffle bag each.

The five minutes went by quickly making them almost think it wasn't actually that long but they quickly landed in a small clearing in the ruined city.

"You have my number if something comes up otherwise I'll see you in three days, happy hunting." Naomi called to them as they all climbed out.

"I can't believe there's all this destruction, and this is just from the Grimm?" Weiss said, looking around the ruined city.

"A lot of the buildings were only half built when the Grimm attacked, the plan was for this city and the main city to be connected by an underground train network but it failed horribly." Ruby said calmly while walking down on of the streets.

"Off you go then. Grimm to kill and all." Ruby said pointing towards a pack of Beowolves slowly walking towards them.

"Aren't you going to fight?" Blake asked.

"Nope. I'm observing to see what you've learnt." Ruby stated, the smile evident in her town but the mask made it impossible to tell.

The four women instead of questioning Ruby just decided to get on with it, and the fact that the Beowolves had now noticed them.

While the four girls fought against the Beowolves and other Grimm that tried to attack them Ruby just looked around the ruined city, trying to look for something.

Eventually the day started to slowly turn into night when they spotted a walking group of walking Grimm Goliath however as the girls were getting ready to attack the roaming creatures just on the outskirts of the city Ruby stopped them.

"Leave them be. They are no threat at the moment, nor will they be." Ruby said.

"But they're Grimm." Yang said.

"They are, but are they attacking us? Instead they are moving away somewhere else, now why is that? And why is there such a high Grimm activity in this area, so think. Why would that be?" Ruby asked to the group.

"They are attracted to negativity, things like sadness, envy, loneliness and hatred. Meaning that it's possible the White Fang or another group harbouring ill intent is around." Weiss answered for them all.

"Correct, however the White Fang are here somewhere. So why are they out there just on the outskirts of the city and not within it themselves?" Ruby asked to them all.

"Maybe they're not in the city itself?" Yang suggested.

"Oh no they are, but think. What else could be around? This expansion was supposed to link up to the city itself and extend its borders before it failed and was fence off. But we're about an hour from the main city." Ruby asked the group, making them think harder.

"A train line." Blake stated, making the three other women all turn and look at Blake, "This area was going to be linked through a train line underground, maybe that's where the line goes along in that direction." Blake suggested, remembering what Ruby had told them.

"Meaning the White Fang could be using the train station as their hidden base, safe from the Grimm and out of sight of anyone who may come looking around." Winter said.

"Very good. Now let's carry on clearing the area of Grimm so we have a safe spot to rest for the night." Ruby said, turning back from the edge.

"But what about the White Fang? We're here for them." Yang asked.

"We are, but you've been fighting most of the day so you need to rest." Ruby stated, leading the women back into the city and attacking the Grimm.

As the women carried on fighting Ruby was able to isolate each one of them in turn, starting with Yang so she could talk with them.

"Why do you want to be a Huntress?" Ruby asked to Yang.

"Huh? To fight monsters and save…" Yang started to say before Ruby cut in.

"That's what you do. I mean why you want to do it." Ruby asked again.

"Um, well I guess I'm just a thrill seeker, I want to travel the world and get caught in crazy adventures and if I can help people along the way then its even better isn't it? Win-win." Yang said, unsure of her answer.

"I see." Ruby said, walking off to another area and where another one of the students was fighting.

Coming up to the sisters Ruby made a subtle motion for Winter to move somewhere else while she spoke to Weiss, "Weiss. Why do you want to become a Huntress? Surely you don't need to do this and instead take a job in Atlas or any number of places in your fathers business." Ruby asked.

"I'm a Schnee, I have a legacy of honour to uphold and when I realised I was capable of fighting there was no longer a question of what I would do with my life. It was my duty." Weiss answered as she impaled another Beowolf.

"I see. So it's your duty." Ruby said before moving somewhere else to talk to someone else.

Lastly it was Blake, she already knew Winter's motives for doing what she is alongside Blake's motives but that wasn't what she wanted to question.

"Why do you want to be a Huntress Blake?" Ruby asked.

"You know why Ruby, there's so much wrong in the world including the White Fang, there's also inequality, corruption and I don't want to stand by and do nothing with so much wrong in this world. Someone has to stop it." Blake answered.

"Ok, but how?" Ruby asked.

"Helping you. You're fighting for the same reasons, if I help you then I'm helping right the wrong in the world." Blake answered easily.

"But what if something happened to me? What would you do then? Do you have a plan?" Ruby asked but this question itself seemed to stump Blake as she couldn't answer.

"Ok." Ruby said, leaving the three women to keep clearing the ruined city while she went to the edge where Winter was watching the Goliath moving again.

"Shouldn't we attack them before they attack us?" Winter asked as Ruby stood next to her.

"They aren't concerned with us, not every Grimm is mindless or rather not every Grimm is still mindless. Those Goliaths are very powerful, so superior to the Grimm you've been fighting that they've easily lived hundreds of years and throughout that time between killing humans and attacking our borders they've done something very important." Ruby started to explain before taking a pause.

"What's that?" Winter asked.

"They've learnt, they've learnt that when they attack our borders they're likely to die, and what we lack in strength we make up for in will and killing even a single human will only bring more." Ruby said as the Goliath turned to look at them, its eyes glowing the same fiery red as any other Grimm.

"What are they doing so close to the city then?" Winter asked.

"Waiting." Ruby said, looking at them once more before turning away.

"Wait. You asked everyone else but me. But you know why I'm doing this, but why are you? Why are you a Huntress Ruby?" Winter asked, stopping Ruby from walking away.

"What do you see if you look around? Tell me." Ruby asked.

"I see lots of empty buildings and streets, a failure in humanities chance to expand and push the Grimm back." Winter asked.

"I see lives could have been saved, wasted lives thrown away in an attempt to expand further past its borders without proper scouting. Did you know that Hunters had advised against this project? Because they needed more time to clear the Grimm out completely but they went ahead anyway. Do you know why?" Ruby asked.

Winter just shook her head in response, having no idea why.

"Money. A lot of rich people had money in this investment and for every day that building wasn't taking place they were losing it, so against the judgement of the Hunters they started building. Three hundred out of four hundred and fifty workers all died. This was the first thing I ever did with my mother. There was only five Hunters that actually stayed to protect the workers." Ruby replied.

"What? Why was there so little?" Winter asked in surprise.

"The minds behind this project believed there was very little need for protection, and that most Hunters spoke out rather loudly in protest at the project. Those five Hunters, me at six years old and my mother. We held back the Grimm for twelve hours as we got the workers out of here, six fully trained Hunters and a six year old with more capability fighting then most soldiers in the world." Ruby said.

"Why isn't this common knowledge? Everyone should know this side. It's the first I'm hearing of it." Winter said.

"Because those rich people didn't want people to know, they paid off the workers and their families. The Hunters had no choice or they would have lost everything to the rich people ready to ruin their reputation making it impossible for them to carry on. My mother and I, we enjoyed a quiet life and we wanted to just let the world turn without us." Ruby said her tone mournful.

"I wanted to be Huntress because I wanted to stop this waste of life. There is much inequality in the world but if there isn't anyone alive in the world to achieve it, well it would be a pointless waste of time. The White Fang want the Faunus to be dominant, Cinder and her group want to become the ruling players in the world through any means, meaning more waste of life. Oh there is much more, your father is an example of waste of life with treating Faunus as slaves. It's rather sad." Ruby said once more.

"I will do it through using my weapons, Doctor Oobleck is the other side of things, and he uses knowledge to teach new students about this tragedy and other important parts of history so they become stronger and change the world through that way. However sometimes knowledge just isn't enough and rather traditional weaponry is needed to change the world, but hopefully the next generation of students can learn from the mistakes made by people currently. But first there needs to be somewhere those students can live and learn without these threats beating at their doors." Ruby said, not looking at Winter but knowing she was listening with rapt attention.

"Though I still want to pass on my teachings, my mother taught me how to fight and I want to pass that on to as many Hunters and Huntresses as possible who can themselves pass it on, a lasting legacy before I pass on. But remember the world is not simply black and white, there is greyer then it may first appear." Ruby stated.

"I am a Huntress, because there is nothing else I would rather be." Ruby said, walking off as she called out. "Let's set up camp."

 **A/N**

 **Another long chapter, getting to the peak of the first act soon as well. Sorry in advance ;)**

 **Not too much to say except Fallout 4 is fucking amazing, and I mean truly fucking amazing, I've only played an hour, if that and I'm loving it. Easily game of the year.**

 **I'm working on another story, about three or four chapters depending but it's more adult themed base and will be called 'The Club' so keep an eye out for that within the next week or so possibly.**

 **Also maybe a short Fallout one-shot called 'What about us?' But that's seeming more unlikely at the moment.**

 **Also one of my favourite episodes looking back on it has to be 'Search & Destroy' because of the conversations held between the teacher and the students, you'll notice that a large amount of the conversations are from that episode, but it really gives an insight to everyone and their motives. I sort of replaced Ruby with Winter because they had spoken earlier about it all.**

 **So that's pretty much it now, so thanks for reading and please review. Until next time ^_^**


	19. Chapter 19

" _When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home."_

 _-Tecumseh_

 **Chapter 19-**

As the evening turned into night the four women were all sat around the fire as Ruby was above them keeping watch for the night while they themselves relaxed and got some food.

"How could we not find anything?" Yang asked.

"We've been lucky at being in the right place at the right time, or with Ruby leading us to where somethings happening, I guess we're not always lucky." Blake explained.

"Ruby knows exactly where to go, but she's holding off for whatever reason." Winter answered.

"That's not what I meant." Weiss stated, her mind somewhere else.

"What do you mean?" Yang asked.

"What I said earlier, about upholding the legacy. There's more to it than that but I just don't know." Weiss said.

"Yeah…No, I mean me too, I just don't know." Yang said, changing her answer as she thought back to the questions that Ruby asked.

"I don't know either. I know what I want to do but I don't know how to do it in the long run, I always thought to take it one step at a time with perhaps Ruby helping as we fight for the same reason." Blake said, her voice drifting off.

"Well it doesn't matter, we know why we're here. Right?" Yang asked before Weiss spoke up.

"Winter, did she ask you?" Weiss asked to her sister.

"She didn't, I don't want to become a Huntress but rather I know what I want to do and how I'm going to do it. Perhaps that's why she didn't ask me." Winter suggested.

No one was able to ask any more questions as Ruby jumped down and threw out MRE bags to the four women, "Heat them up, that's dinner for tonight. I'll keep watch so eat up and get some rest." Ruby informed them all before taking up her perch again.

"What are these?" Weiss asked, looking at the silver bag.

"MRE's or meals ready to eat, basically contains all the nutrients you need but not very pleasant." Blake informed her.

The girls eat their food with mild disgust except for Blake who seemed used to the taste of the horrible food.

As they were settling down to sleep in sleeping bags they brought with them they all heard Aria speak rather loudly.

"Mother, the beacon is active." Aria stated so the others could hear as well.

"That's ahead of the timeline. They must know we're here." Ruby said. Climbing out of her perch to meet the girls by the fire.

"The White Fang are getting ready to start something here, I don't know what but it's something to do with the old underground train lines. We need to get down there and stop them before it's too late." Ruby informed them all.

"But where is it?" Yang asked.

"There's an access way near here, we're going to go in there and just fight through the guards and stop them. Roman is somewhere so we must capture him." Ruby impressed onto them, "Grab your weapons and let's go." Ruby said, making sure to rush them.

Ruby led them at jogging pace towards a doorway with two White Fang guards just inside the doorway but Ruby easily dealt with them with two hits.

When they got to the underground train station they discovered a large operation going on where there was a large amount of White Fang around and a train waiting at the station alongside Roman who was directing them.

"Red." Roman stated, spotting the group of women as he turned and shouted, "Stop them and get the train going. Now!" Roman shouted rushing towards the train to climb aboard as it started leaving. "Ignore the guards, get on that train!" Aria shouted as Ruby started taking out the guards in their way.

The four women followed the order as they ran towards the train, trusting Ruby to handle anyone in their way.

As they all climbed aboard they watched as Ruby broke away from her fight with the guards and within a blink of the eye she was right next to them.

"Door?" Aria asked.

"Locked manually." Blake informed her.

"No time to get through, go over the top hatch." Aria said, now speaking in place of Ruby.

Climbing over the top they went to the middle of the last train cart where they heard a loud ticking sound. Yang opened up the hatch where it was coming from to discover a bomb ticking down.

"Run. Now!" Aria shouted, seeing the countdown close to zero.

They all ran over to the next cart as the one they were just standing on detached itself and blew up in the tunnel. However they had no time to debate the reasoning as they quickly discovered another bomb.

"Keep running until I say stop." Aria said, prompting the women to keep running across the top of the train until they reached five carts ahead of the last one, which were slowly detaching and exploding in the tunnel.

"Why are they doing this?" Weiss asked, trying to work out the point of the explosives.

"Grimm. They're blowing holes in the roof to allow Grimm through into the tunnels and leading them through with their negative feelings." Ruby answered, "Aria where does this end?" Ruby asked.

"The town centre, its night time but it'll still be busy. They're attempting to lead them into the city." Aria informed them, coming to her own conclusion.

"Aria, deactivate the bombs." Ruby ordered, before looking behind her. "You four get inside the train and stop it. Do not let it reach the city." Ruby said.

"What about you?" Winter asked, feeling that Ruby wasn't joining them.

"I'm going to make sure the Grimm don't make it past this point, now go!" Ruby ordered, jumping down and off the train with still two carts filed with explosives.

Ruby deployed her scythe, burying the blade into the ground as she took out her long sword and short sword burying those both into the ground next to her as well.

"Darkness has come to the Roses. The fire is reaching the end…" Ruby said softly to herself as she sent a message to Aria. "Tell Neo I'm clearing the top of the train." Ruby sent to her as the first Grimm sprinted towards her.

* * *

Back on the train the four women just watched as Ruby jumped off the train before they were shocked back into action by another explosion.

"Let's go." Yang said, pushing the team along and back down into the carriages themselves as they took out the couple brave guards trying to stop them.

As they got through into the second carriage they found Neo standing in the middle of the cart waiting for them.

"Hello girls, a White Fang lieutenant is in the next carriage and the head of the train is after, that's where Roman is. We don't have long so let's go." Neo stated, turning her back on the women as she started walking to the next carriage.

She quickly teleported when she heard the sound of Yang's weapon firing a round. "What the fuck are you doing?" Neo asked as she turned around.

"You three go. I'll handle Neo." Yang said coldly, walking forward with her weapons deploying.

"Yang she's on our side." Winter said, annoyed at Yang's attitude.

"No, you three go. I'll sort this out." Neo said, seeing an ample opportunity to sort this issue out between them.

"But…" Blake tried to say before Neo interrupted.

"It'll be quick, just stop the train. Where's Ruby?" Neo asked.

Before any of the girls could answer Aria quickly informed her, "She's clearing the top, the bombs are all disabled but we haven't got long left." Aria said.

"Come on girls." Weiss said, getting the team to carry on moving through.

Neo let them go, watching out of the corner of her eye as they entered the next cart as she focused her attention onto Yang, "This is pointless and you know it. Whatever you believe is clearly wrong about me, so why not settle it with hundreds if not thousands of people's lives are at stake." Neo stated harshly, annoyed at Yang's attitude.

Yang didn't answer verbally but instead charged towards Neo only to have the smaller woman dodge out of the way of the first attack, "Why is it you believe I abuse Ruby? Is it perhaps some misguided attempt at protecting someone you believe needs it?" Neo said harshly while dodging the woman's attacks which only got more violent.

"Is it perhaps that you think I'm evil? That you believe I would actually hurt Ruby even though I love her and am her intended." Neo stated, keeping up her dodging tactic.

"So what is it Yang? Why do you not trust me but you trust Ruby who hides much more then you even realise?" Neo asked.

"You'll only hurt Ruby more. I can see it, she was vulnerable without her mother and you took advantage of that, of her." Yang said through gritted teeth.

"So that's what it is." Neo said calmly, quickly and efficiently locking up Yang's arms to stop her from attacking, "Someone tried to take advantage of you and you don't want to see it happen again. I admire that protection you have over Ruby but you must know that I'm not like that person. I've known Ruby for over seven years and throughout that time I've never done something to make her uncomfortable. Trust her to make the right decisions, and trust me to want the best for her." Neo said, realising her hold on Yang as she felt the woman's tense body relax.

"Now let's stop this fucking train and get home." Neo said to Yang, extending her arm out to the woman.

After a moment's hesitation Yang took Neo's wrist into her hand for a few seconds before breaking it apart.

They went into the next carriage to see Weiss and Winter over the unconscious body of a White Fang lieutenant with a large chainsaw blade lying next to him.

"Where's Blake?" Neo asked.

"She went on to take down Roman." Weiss informed her.

"Shit, come on." Neo urged them along to the next carriage only to see Blake on top of Roman's prone body with the blade of her weapon against his neck.

"Blake, stop!" Neo shouted out, seeing what Blake was contemplating doing.

"Stop this train." Neo ordered as she approached Blake to gently move her weapon away from his neck, "Killing him won't change anything, he's just one part of a chest board but we need the queen and to do that we need him." Neo told Blake as she herself took her weapon away.

"Uh guys got an issue here." Yang called out, "The brakes aren't working and that looks like a dead end." Yang said.

"Ok, Aria jump to me and everyone up onto the roof." Neo ordered, making sure the others got on top first.

"Hold on." Weiss said, getting everyone to gather around before slamming her rapier into the ground creating an ice shell around all of them as the train made impact on the end of the line.

The ice managed to protect them from the majority of injuries but they were still thrown around on the ground but what they all saw shocked them.

Grimm were inside the city, there was even a Nevermore in the air above them attacking the civilians in the town centre.

Yang and Neo were the first to recover with the others slowly behind them but it was Yang to say, "I thought Ruby was stopping the Grimm?" She asked aloud.

"What do you mean?" Neo asked with a deadly calm.

"No time." Winter shouted as she charged forward with her sword to kill a Grimm about to kill someone.

The five women all sprang into action as they started clearing out the Grimm, there didn't seem to be as many but found there not to be as many but the Nevermore in the sky would be some trouble to take out.

"Inbound twenty seconds." Naomi's voice entered Neo's ear, having turned on her comm. Piece since joining with the other women.

True to her word Naomi came in twenty seconds later, hovering a few feet off the ground as she dropped off team CVFY, Professors Port and Goodwitch who went straight into action with Glynda sealing up the other breaches that Grimm were coming from except for the one in the middle.

It was Coco who dealt with the Nevermore, her large weapon ripping the creature in half and if there was a Deathstalker it was clear it could rip that apart as well.

Neo also spotted Emerald, her two revolvers in her hands as she killed a pair of Beowolves attacking a couple cowering in the street.

With the area clear of Grimm the teachers went to help out the civilians around the area, with the Atlas military dropping their androids into the area but it was too late for them to do anything.

While this was all happening Neo met up with the other students as she asked, "Where's Ruby?"

"She uh, she stayed behind in the tunnel to stop the Grimm from getting through, but clear some managed to get through." Yang said, unsure the response.

"Fuck. You let her go alone?" Neo almost shouted, annoyance and worry seeping into her voice.

"She didn't leave us much choice and she was ranking Huntress." Weiss stated.

"Fuck. Coco how did you get here so fast?" Neo asked, turning to the other woman.

"Naomi said she received Ruby's beacon calling for support…" Coco started to explain but was quickly cut off.

"Naomi where did that beacon originate from?" Neo asked not allowing Coco to finish, hand to her ear.

"In the train tunnels, about three clicks back but it went dark just before we arrived." Naomi informed her.

"Fuck." Neo shouted as she ran straight through to where the train went through, heading through the interior of the broken train with everyone else following shortly after seeing how distressed Neo looked.

They were unable to keep up with Neo as she seemed to jump along the tunnel as she sprinted with the use of her semblance to teleport short distances over obstacles in her way.

Neo had disappeared from view from the other students for barely a minute where they heard a strangled scream of pain causing them to full out sprint the last bit.

The students all arrived to a scene of carnage. Grimm laid dismembered or in some cases completely destroyed around the whole tunnel, there were even multiply Deathstalker corpses that hadn't had time to dissolve yet either.

The floor was littered with empty bullet casings though they seemed to change in size from sniper bullets to pistol bullets. They saw the discarded pistols on the floor alongside throwing knives used to kill other Grimm at long range and even two swords that lay on the ground covered in blood, broken.

The most surprising piece or rather the second was Ruby's beloved Scythe, it laid on the ground some ten metres away from where Ruby was broken in half and the barrel still smoking from the amount of bullets pushed through it.

The scary part of this all was the woman who dealt all this destruction to the Grimm was laying on the floor peacefully looking as if she was just sleeping as Neo held her head in her lap crying. Above them a hole in the roof allowed light from the moon to filter through however it seemed the moons light only shone on Ruby, who was clutching a small dagger bathed in blood in her hands, held against her chest and her broken mask that laid on the floor next to her.

A single raven sat perched on the edge of the hole, looking down at Ruby's prone body shining from the moonlight.

 _The moon will proudly watch the roses die._

 **A/N**

 **So that new episode, am I right? Well because of some of that I'm actually changing some of my plans for certain things in the story.**

 **Also where to start? I've got a few different things I'm writing, varying ideas from different thoughts and stuff. Like a star wars one-shot because I played this fucking amazing arcade game for it. But I'm working on a couple other pieces.**

 **As I said certain things will be changing, like how a certain character becomes in the end or rather what it is they do. Can you guess who?**

 **Oh yeah I almost forgot, yeah that ending huh? Didn't see that coming did you? I've given enough hints throughout of my plans that I'm sure some of you guessed it.**

 **Lastly is about Paris. I'm sure you've all heard what has happened by now, and it's horrible that this is a world we live in where humans do this to other humans. My thoughts are with the victims who have passed on, and their families who are dealing with them passing on. I hope you do the same.**

 **That's all for now, until next time.**


	20. Chapter 20

" _Death ends a life, not a relationship."_

― _Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie_

 **Chapter 20-**

While some of the students were stunned Velvet acted immediately in an attempt to do something and quickly called out to Aria, "Aria can you get a signal out?" Velvet asked, moving to crouch beside Ruby and Neo, who the latter had tears running down her face but no other visible emotion.

"I can't, my range isn't long enough to reach Naomi." Aria informed her.

"Shit. Think back." Velvet said to herself as her memory sparked into action remembering one thing that Ruby had taught them all.

"All soldiers have the identical layout for their webbing so even one goes down and someone needs his ammo they know exactly where to look. I do the same however I have a few extra things like a high beam distress beacon."

Velvet remembered the lesson and when Ruby had gone through her own pouches or rather the Reaper had, it hadn't clicked yet that the two were the same person even with the mask laying broken next to them, but Velvet went straight for Ruby's pouch sitting on her waist.

Inside was a small cylinder device with a button on top and nothing else. Velvet immediately hit the button on top and it started emitting a faint but clear pulse every five seconds.

With that done Velvet turned her attention back to Ruby, the woman had several small cuts over her body but weren't bleeding too heavily that they could be ignored as her Aura would heal them.

But what stumped Velvet was the fact that Ruby's Aura, one of the strongest she had seen wasn't healing her wounds at all so instead resorted to the using bandages from Ruby's pouch to cover the wounds.

"Neo, Ruby needs you to be strong. The beacon's active so Naomi won't be far away but Ruby needs you strong." Velvet said, trying to get Neo to calm down.

"You don't understand, none of you do." Neo just mumbled as she held Ruby's head in her lap.

Velvet then chose to ignore Neo once she realised she was a lost cause as she focused on Ruby's wounds, covering the bleeding cuts as she heard engines come screaming in overhead.

All the girls looked up to see the raven fly away as Naomi brought her aircraft in overhead with the back ramp opening up just on the edge of the hole.

The hole itself wasn't far allowing all the Huntresses and Hunters to make the jump into the aircraft easily with Velvet and Neo carrying Ruby's body up into the aircraft.

Laying the woman down on the floor the rear hatch had barely shut when Naomi had blasted the engines at full power heading straight for Beacon.

As they left, Atlas soldiers arrived in their own Bullheads and securing the breach which was still open all the way along, although none of the Huntresses and Hunters remained behind to speak to them, all too worried about Ruby.

"Are her airways clear? Have you got a pulse?" Naomi asked to the pair as she piloted the aircraft up above the buildings and straight to Beacon.

Velvet placed her hand just under Ruby's chin to check for a pulse but only got a faint one back, "Faint pulse and breaths coming in short." Velvet informed the pilot as she did the needed checks.

"Got it, Aura level readings?" Naomi followed up.

"Aura levels?" Velvet asked, confused as it wasn't a normal thing asked for nor was it something easy to check on hand.

"Scanner in the netting above your head, turn it on and run it over Ruby's body and tell me the reading." Naomi informed her.

Coco reached into the netting and pulled out the required item, handing it over to Velvet who activated it and ran it over Ruby's body.

"This can't be right." Velvet mumbled looking at the display.

"What's the reading?" Naomi asked hurriedly.

"It's saying there's no Aura level, like nothing almost as if she didn't have one." Velvet answered, shocked at the thought of Ruby having no aura.

"Shit. Slap Neo." Naomi ordered.

"What?" Velvet asked, shocked again.

"Slap her, get her to snap out of whatever shit she's in." Naomi ordered as she switched from talking to them to informing Beacon.

"Beacon control, I have a Huntress down with no Aura levels registering and slow pulse and breathing. Require medical on stand-by." Naomi informed the controller.

"Copy, proceed immediately to medical dock one. Doc's on stand-by." The controller replied back.

Back in the cargo area Velvet looked towards Coco to see what she should do but Coco only shrugged in response as she motioned for her to do it.

Velvet turned and slapped Neo around the face in an attempt to get her mind clear but it didn't seem to do much to Neo as all she said was, "It's time, she said we had more time but we didn't. She lied. She knew." Neo mumbled again.

It didn't matter much because as soon as they landed barely a minute later, making record time back to the academy and doctors and nurses immediately swarmed the aircraft, picking Ruby up onto a cart to take her straight through.

Neo followed right next to them, making sure to not let Ruby out of her sight or even her touch as they rushed through and when they attempted to stop her from going further she made it known she was staying with Ruby.

Getting inside the operating theatre the doctors were prepping Ruby to be operated on although except for the fact that Ruby had an extremely low Aura and pulse but they didn't know what could cause it.

"An Aura degenerative disease, she's had it since birth and over the years it's slowly weakened her body and Aura but it also affects her health, slowly killing her. There's no cure." Neo informed them all.

"But we can surely do something? What about life support system or maybe a series of Aura injections in high concentrations to try and jumpstart her own Aura reserves." One of the doctors suggested.

"No. Ruby doesn't want anything done." Neo said to the doctors.

"She's unconscious, we don't know what she wants and with no relative or family member to make that decision we have to take steps to keep her alive." The second doctor stated while the first started preparing Aura injections.

"I am her fiancé and as such I can speak for her. She does not wish for anything to be done." Neo stated more firmly to the doctors.

"We can't confirm whether that is true or not. Nurse could you please get this woman out." The second doctor said to one of the nurses inside.

"Double dose Aura injection, ready to be administered." The first doctor stated as a nurse was preparing an IV.

Neo avoided the nurse who tried to get her to leave as she drew the sword hidden inside her parasol. "I said that Ruby's wishes are to be left alone and not to have anything done to attempt to extend her life, it will not work." Neo said, holding her sword up towards the medical staff. Her tone deathly calm.

"Calm down, we're only going to try and help her. If what you say is true then she's dying right now." The second doctor said.

"She's been dying since she was born as have we all, but she knows this will not work and does not want it so either you stop what you are doing or I will use force." Neo stated coldly, holding her weapon up.

"Alright just stay calm. What does she want then?" The first doctor asked, keeping the peace and understanding the wishes.

"Just transfer her to a room and just monitor her but nothing else. She wishes to be left in peace as she passes onto the next life." Neo informed them.

"Ok than. We'll respect her wishes." He said, directing the nurses to transfer her, "Take her to room three, less traffic in that area." He informed the nurses, directing them.

Neo followed as they took Ruby into another room and once they hooked up a simple heart rate monitor to Ruby they quickly left, aware of the deadly woman in the room.

Once they had left Neo sat down next to Ruby and finally broke down loudly, she was sobbing into the bed as she let her emotion out.

She didn't realise that the others were waiting outside alongside Mizu who had come as soon as she heard Ruby was in trouble but they didn't come inside until they heard Neo calm down a little.

They all crowded inside except for JNPR who decided to remain outside for the moment but WWBY and Mizu had all entered the room to see Ruby laying peacefully on the bed while Neo who had clearly been crying, although none of them mentioned how she looked.

"What happened?" Mizu asked upon seeing Ruby.

"Nothing. She held back the majority of the Grimm from breaching into the city and it was just too much. She has an Aura degenerative disease that over the years has slowly been depleting her Aura levels and affecting her health to the point some days she can barely move and requires a boost but now it's gotten to the point the injections won't work." Neo informed the whole group.

"Surely the doctors can do something though, can't they?" Yang asked, stunned at the news of what Ruby had, never once realising.

"They can't and even if they could Ruby doesn't want them." Neo said bluntly, all emotion vanishing from her voice.

"What? But what if it saves Ruby's life, she's dying isn't she?" Winter said, stunned at what Neo had just told them.

"Yes, she is. But she doesn't want them to do anything." Neo informed them.

"But surely if we can save her we should let them do it? You of all people should know that." Weiss said.

"Of course I fucking do. You think I want Ruby to die? I want her to stay alive until the end of our days together but she doesn't fucking want anything to be done to save her." Neo exploded at them, annoyed with them repeating the same questions each time.

"How do we even know that's what she wants? Only family can make those decisions for her and you're not family." Surprising everyone Mizu was the one who said this to Neo harshly.

"No I am not but I am the only family Ruby has here, we're engaged to be married so I think that fucking says something, not even Qrow knows about this. And as I'm the only one who knows Ruby's wishes I must speak for her." Neo said, standing up from her seat as she bite back just as harshly.

"Well it doesn't matter, I say we should let the doctors help Ruby." Mizu replied back, voices weren't being raised yet but it was close as all the others could feel the tension.

"It's not up to you, you're not in any way related to Ruby so you don't get to make a choice for Ruby. Now would you kindly leave." Neo said back, her voice deadly calm.

Mizu having had enough with Neo stopping her and with Ruby in the bed dying while nothing was done she couldn't help what she said, "It is. I'm her fucking father and I say we should help her." Mizu shouted at Neo.

 **A/N**

 **So was that what you expected? I think you did, sorry if it's a little underwhelming but it's how it came out in the end.**

 **Would have been up earlier but didn't have enough time sadly before my driving lesson. So I have a few things to request/ask.**

 **One I am looking for prompts, this can be Ruby x Neo, Ruby x Winter or maybe Ruby x Blake depending on what it is. I've got a number of different things I'm writing but certain things I'm struggling to get motive to do it. So I welcome any and all prompts. You can PM me here or message me on Tumblr sgtranglin or RavenRose and I'll try and see the messages if possible.**

 **Secondly something to know, I love and really interested in the human mind and different conditions and stuff. One such thing is the whole Survivors guilt and some aspects of PTSD. While they are horrible things they are also interesting and I'm thinking about writing about Ruby suffering with them. However with the recent tragedy in Paris I'm not sure about doing something like that at the moment, so I'm curious as to the wider opinion on this. So feel free to share them.**

 **That's all I can think of really, I'm releasing the next chapter tomorrow all going well so please keep an eye out for that.**

 **Anyway until next time everyone. ^_^**


	21. Chapter 21

" _It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. We all know that our time in this world is limited, and that eventually all of us will end up underneath some sheet, never to wake up. And yet it is always a surprise when it happens to someone we know." ― Lemony Snicket, Horseradish_

 **Chapter 21-**

The room was deadly quiet after Mizu's statement while the other girls except for Winter were in shock it was Neo who recovered first.

"Everyone out." Neo said calmly but everyone could hear the threat laced into the tone.

Everyone but Mizu and Winter left the room, quickly wanting to get away from it while Weiss had hesitated but felt that she shouldn't be there as well as getting over the shock of having a half-sister.

"You knew as well? Of course. It's why you were getting closer to Ruby because you knew she was your half-sister." Neo accused Winter as her gaze moved onto her.

"I only found out a few days ago, I didn't know until I found mother crying with Ruby asleep in her arms." Winter defended.

Neo just shook her head in response as she just said, "Get the fuck out." Neo spat out harshly but Winter only stood her ground prompting Neo for the second time to draw her weapon, "Get out!" She said more forcefully.

"It's alright Winter, go." Mizu said gently.

She only hesitated for a few seconds before she turned and left the room leaving the two women alone together.

"You have thirty seconds before I run my blade through you for everything you caused Ruby." Neo said darkly, her blade staying in her hands.

"There isn't much to explain, I gifted Summer with a child and she vanished as I married my awful husband. I didn't even know it was a success until Qrow told me but I guessed when I saw she was a wolf." Mizu explained calmly, ignoring the threat.

"You could have searched for her, you should have searched for her and not left her alone. When her mother died if Qrow wasn't around or the White Fang she would have easily died." Neo stated.

"I tried, every year I tried to find Summer but she clearly didn't want to be found. I scoured that forest where we spent so much of our time together for clues that she was there or where she could be but I never found her. And what are you talking about the White Fang helping Ruby?" Mizu asked, sadness evident as she spoke about her hunt.

"The White Fang gave her an enemy, something to go towards stopping and giving her a purpose with her mother gone and Qrow was simply someone that always stood by her to support her through it. I didn't meet her until three years after her mother passed." Neo said, lowering her weapon and parasol to the ground but still within easy reach.

"I know I missed out on so much with Ruby and it's a regret I'll take with me to the grave but surely you understand that we need to try and save Ruby, if she's truly dying as you say." Mizu begged.

Neo's eyes softened for the first time and Mizu noticed they were no longer the vibrant colours they would change to but instead a pale blue. "She is dying, it was something she told me about a year after we met. The same time I proposed to her or rather we did to each other but we didn't really make it official until we were sixteen. She always said she knew her time would be short and that she wanted to make sure she had either completed her mission or given the best students she could find her training she had and the same purpose. We discovered about a year ago that Ruby was getting worse a lot faster than we expected." Neo explained.

"So we started hunting, looking at students. With Qrow being a headmaster of a school it made searching a bit easier but we struggled. In the end when Ozpin offered Ruby that chance we took it, using finding her father as a front although it was true all the same. We did that and Ruby begun training them all and hopefully they'll finish what she started with her mother." Neo informed her calmly, her gaze going back to Ruby as it changed to both pink eyes.

"Why didn't she try and do something about the illness?" Mizu asked, taking a seat on the opposite side to Neo as she took Ruby's hand into her own.

"She dwells with beauty, beauty that must die. And joy, whose hand is ever at his lips. His soul must taste the sadness of her might. And be among her cloudy trophies hung. Darkness will come to the roses as the moon will proudly watch the roses die." Neo responded calmly but Mizu noticed the fresh tears forming in her eyes.

"What does that all mean?" Mizu asked, confused at what Neo had told her.

"Ruby said that to me when I asked the same question, you wouldn't believe me entirely but it means this. Ruby is beauty and in the end she will die but joy will taste the sadness of her might before she passes. At least that's how Ruby first explained it but now it's more like joy will taste the sadness of her might through her death." Neo replied as she went to answer the second part.

"Darkness refers to the Grimm, and when Ruby stopped the Grimm in the tunnel that was the darkness coming to her and when we arrived the moon was shining only on her body." Neo finished answering.

"Where did you learn all this? Who came up with this crap?" Mizu asked failing to stop herself from laughing.

"The Angel of Death, Maya told us of this prophecy if you wish to call it that." Neo answered bluntly.

Mizu could only laugh again at the comment, "You're telling me an Angel of Death visited you to tell you that Ruby was set to die and how it would happen?" Mizu asked.

"The Angel of Death and it's true, it doesn't matter what you think but it is true and Ruby wholeheartedly accepts her fate which is why she doesn't want anything done. She knows nothing can be done for her. The disease is the only known case, the doctor said she'd likely live for a year, two at most. That was six years ago, we know nothing can be done for her. It's too late. " Neo said plainly which actually stopped Mizu's laughter.

"This is true isn't it?" She asked.

"Of course, I wouldn't lie about this." Neo answered.

"So what's going on now? She's still alive." Mizu asked gently, not wanting to sound negative.

"She's in limbo, I don't know what she's doing. I don't even know if she'll wake up again or not." Neo said, her voice breaking as she let out a strangled sob before burying her head into the bed as she held Ruby's hand tightly.

Mizu watched as the woman in front of her broke down sobbing, moving to the other side of the bed she took Neo into her arms to offer what little comfort she could as she cried for losing her love.

While Mizu herself cried for the daughter she never could meet as mother and daughter instead of just allies or maybe friends.

* * *

Ruby found herself in a bright white corridor at one end while the corridor as it extended in front of Ruby. She stood just on the edge of the threshold as if she was waiting for someone to tell her to move forward.

A tall, beautiful woman seemed to walk up beside Ruby to stand next to, she wore a long reaching black dress that covered her whole body while she had dark grey angel wings extending from her shoulder blades.

"Hello Angel of Death." Ruby said softly, causing the angel to flinch.

"You know I don't like that name." She replied back but her tone held no malice.

"I apologise Maya, I guess it was time. Could you at least tell me if I stopped the Grimm?" Ruby asked.

"How about I do one better?" The woman asked with a smile, "I can give you three days back in the world of the living to make your peace with the world before I have to take you to the other side." Maya told Ruby.

"You can do that?" Ruby asked, surprised.

"I can. Normally I don't allow it nor do the others but for you I will give you the full time to make peace. However you won't have full movement of your body, from the waist down you'll be immobile, I'm sorry." Maya informed her mournfully.

"It's fine. You've done a lot for me and giving me extra time to make peace is even more than I could wish for, so please don't apologise." Ruby replied looking towards the long corridor.

"You better return, use all the time you can before I have to see you again." Maya stated.

"But I thought you liked me." Ruby teased.

Maya just laughed at Ruby's actions as she said, "Go, I'd rather not see you for a long time but we both know the truth. Enjoy the time Ruby." Maya stated.

"Thank you Maya." Ruby said before she was enveloped by bright white light as she vanished from Maya's side, "I'm just sorry I couldn't do more Ruby." Maya said sadly to the empty air.

* * *

"How did you two meet?" Mizu asked after Neo had calmed down enough to talk.

Neo laughed humourlessly, "You'd better get the others in at the same time, I'd rather not tell the story multiply times." Neo said, knowing the interest in their history.

It was easy enough to get WWBY back into the room as they seem to crowd the seats, while they all acted like nothing had happened previously.

"So Ruby and I didn't meet in school, or rather she wasn't in school anyway and I was when we met. Originally I'm from Patch, the same as Ruby but she never attended the school and it was sort of a rumour around the school that something other than Grimm inhabited the forests surrounding Patch, particularly the school though it depended on who you asked what it was that lived in the woods." Neo explained.

"Anyway the majority of the forest itself is actually safe as Mizu can attest to, so the teachers to punish bad students would send them to walk through a small area. Because of the rumours it scared them to death to do it but they did." Neo said with a smile on her face.

"But surely the headmaster wouldn't allow that? Would he?" Weiss asked.

"Well it is a school for aspiring Hunters and Huntresses but also the headmaster was Qrow, he knew who the rumours were about and seemed to coordinate the punishment. They largely went unhindered walking through the forest it was just more the thought of doing it and they all accepted the risks. I think I messed up somehow or managed to piss someone high up enough that they decided when I went through the forest it would be time for my semblance to unlock itself." Neo explained, smiling back on the memory.

All those in the room understood the problem, sometimes people would have their semblance unlocked at birth and was just waiting to be used when their Aura was strong enough for others though, it would arrive later in life for whatever reason and normally it was rather calm with a little scare of actually finding out you had some power but in a small one percent of the time it was rather explosive and intense how they learnt.

* * *

" _Ah Neo, come in and hello." Qrow said from behind his desk, paperwork sitting on top of it._

" _Um is something wrong sir?" Neo asked, walking into the room slowly. She was still the same height, having reached the tallest at ten years old, and her hair was shorter but her clothing choices were the same._

" _No, nothing's wrong or rather nothing important. I know you're going through the forest today as part of punishment for…" Qrow said, pausing as her read a piece of paper, "stealing someone's wallet and putting a fake one that you made in its place. And giving that money to a local charity for orphaned Faunus." Qrow said in amusement._

" _Well he was always flaunting his money around everywhere and rubbing it in my face that he had more money than I'd ever make. So I wanted to see him lose that money. At least it went to a good cause." Neo attempted to defend herself. Also knowing the kid himself hated Faunus made it even better._

" _I've already read the reason you told the teachers, that's not why I called you up here. It's rather cold out there at the moment and I know you don't have sufficient clothing to protect against it." Qrow said as he stood up from his desk to take something from a hook._

" _This should protect you from the elements and I must stress that you are not to go away from your path." Qrow said, handing her a large red cloak with a hood._

" _Um whose is this?" Neo asked holding the warm, soft material in her hands but she could feel something else in the cloak._

" _Oh it's my nieces, she forgot it last time she visited me. Don't worry it's fine for you to wear. I believe you're supposed to meet a teacher by the edge of the forest now aren't you?" Qrow said lightly, going back to his work._

 _Neo didn't response as she walked away from the office and towards the forests edge, as soon as she got outside she felt the biting cold and immediately put the cloak on to try and combat the cold._

 _Immediately she started to warm up as the cloak sat around her shoulders but she heard a clicking sound when she put the cloak on as well as she thought she heard a voice say something but it was too quiet that she couldn't barely hear it._

 _Speaking briefly with the teacher he just told her to stay on the path laid out in her map and just told her to start._

 _The forest was peaceful as she walked through it with only the howling wind as a companion but the cloak seemed to block all of it out leaving Neo rather warm despite the cold, she wasn't looking forward to giving this back._

 _Not paying attention to where she was going Neo tripped on a branch and was about to fall face first to the ground, hands held up in front of her and her eyes closed but as she expected to feel impact she felt something else through her body._

 _Suddenly instead of falling onto her front she fell onto her back and as she opened her eyes she saw that instead of the snow covered trees she was next to before now the trees in front of her had no snow covering them but instead just blackened branches._

" _What the. Where am I?" Neo asked to herself, looking around the forest with no snow on the ground or anywhere else._

 _Getting up Neo walked up to a tree to touch it but as she did it just shattered into pieces in front of her, causing her to jump back in shock and into another one which shattered again causing Neo to move somewhere else._

" _What's going on?" Neo asked aloud trying to find a way out of wherever she was, growing scared as she recognised nothing around her. But as she thought back to the snowy forests she felt something change inside and suddenly she was in the snowy forest again but this time as if jumping in the air while unprepared she fell to her knees._

 _Running up to one of the trees Neo hesitantly touched it only to watch it shatter again in front of her alongside more of the trees as well._

 _Scared and confused Neo just crouched down and curled in as she looked around scared, unsure where she was and what was going on around her causing her to cry softly._

" _Shh. Just relax. Calm your body than clam your mind." A softly spoken but firm female voice said to her._

 _Looking up Neo saw a woman who looked no older than her, dressed in black trousers, corset, shirt and combat boots crouched in front of her. But her eyes looked as if she was much older than just ten years old, at least double that if not more. And had seen horrible things in her life._

" _Who are you?" Neo asked, her voice breaking a little._

" _This is your semblance, you have two. Not many people have that so be proud of it. You can teleport and create illusions, that's what this is now. It's all an illusion your mind has created, relax your mind and think back to where you were when this all happened." The girl explained calmly, ignoring Neo's question._

 _Neo didn't reply back as she shut her eyes attempting to focus back on the forest where she had last remembered and with the girls gentle encouragement she was able to focus._

" _The trees all around are covered in snow, there is a howling, biting wind but the cloak is protecting you from it. There is nothing around except for trees and wind." The girl quietly told her, getting her mind to focus on this._

 _When Neo next opened her eyes she found herself still crouched on the floor with the cloak wrapped tightly around her body and a group of teachers all standing in front of her looking out to the forest._

 _The first to notice her was Qrow who rushed to her side to check her for any problems but Neo only looked confused which he quickly understood._

" _You've been gone for over four hours that walk takes about ten, twenty minutes at most so you can understand we got a bit worried. Could you tell us what happened?" Qrow explained._

" _My Semblance unlocked, I can teleport and create illusions but I got trapped in one." Neo explained._

" _How did you get out?" Qrow asked._

" _Um." Neo said, unsure how to answer the question as she didn't know if that person was just a figment of her imagination or actually a real person._

" _Someone else was there weren't they? Did they wear all black with black and red hair?" Qrow asked._

" _How did you know?" Neo asked but she received no reply._

" _Alright let's get you to medical to get checked out. Oh and well done on unlocking your semblance, it's rare for people to have two so be proud of that, keep the cloak as well." Qrow said._

" _But isn't it your nieces?" Neo asked._

" _It's fine, trust me." Qrow said before getting other teachers to take her to the medical room on campus._

 _Over the course of the next few months Neo wore the cloak constantly as it helped with the cold of the island but also she found some odd comfort in the cloak. But over this time she had also seen this girl who helped her multiply times._

 _It would only be a glimpse around the school or outside, it'd be a flash of black hair or clothes, even silver eyes but whenever she attempted to follow her she discovered she had vanished from sight and no one around seemed to notice the girl._

 _It got to the point where Neo started to believe it was all her imagination or her semblance messing with her or trying to tell her something but she couldn't work it out, especially as no one could enter her illusions unless she allowed them to, which only made her question this woman's identity even more._

 _In the end Neo managed to follow the apparition as she started calling it all the way from Qrow's office and through the school however students seemed to act like she wasn't even there, even the teachers were the same._

 _Following the girl she hesitated for a moment as she watched her go into the forest but chose to follow after her anyway regardless._

 _Neo followed the girl as she walked through the forest without a problem but after a twenty minute walk through the forest she suddenly lost sight of the girl with no idea where she was._

 _Neo searched around for the girl for almost an hour to no luck but what she did end up finding was a large pack of Beowolves hunting around and they decided Neo was easy prey._

 _Neo backed away quickly upon spotting the Grimm but struggled to get away from the fast moving creatures and without a weapon she couldn't defend herself. She hadn't picked a weapon yet and used what the school had during training as practise and an idea of what she would prefer using but she wasn't allowed them outside the training hall like others who had their own weapon. That and she couldn't afford anything that she liked._

 _As the first one was about to attack her she held up her hands in some form of weak defence but she knew it wouldn't work, and she felt death creping ever closer to her now._

* * *

 **A/N**

 **So some information thrown at you here, and Ruby and Neo's first meeting. Also about the Goddess/Angel of Death. Name is completely made up, if there's any relation than please share but I couldn't find anything about it.**

 **Also yeah, another story with the Gods involved. I rather like using them as it's quite easy to do but also is a rather simple way for me to incorporate them in.**

 **Not much else, next update will be Saturday this time it's only because I felt like it.**

 **That's about it, so until next time. ^_^**

 **(Oh and still looking for prompts so send any in.)**


	22. Chapter 22

" _It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. We all know that our time in this world is limited, and that eventually all of us will end up underneath some sheet, never to wake up. And yet it is always a surprise when it happens to someone we know." ― Lemony Snicket, Horseradish_

 **Chapter 22-**

 _Just as the first Grimm jumped up to attack Neo saw the creature fly backwards seconds before she heard the rifle shot echo in her ears._

 _Turning in the direction of the rifle shot Neo saw the girl with a large scythe and sniper rifle built into the weapon alongside the girl with her hair flowing in the wind as she moved next to Neo, firing another bullet into the next closest Grimm._

 _Neo watched until she heard a low roar come from behind her and without even realising it she had drawn a short, thin sword that sat on the girl's waist and turned to face the Grimm, quickly decapitating the creature._

 _No words were spoken between the two of them as they fought in unison against the Grimm, being able to work together seamlessly although having never done so before._

 _Once the fight was over and all the Beowolves laid on the ground dissolving into the air, which at last meant Neo was able to talk to this girl._

 _"Who are you?" Neo asked, rounding on the girl. Noticing a pair of red headphones atop her head now but she was dressed the same as before._

 _"That's my cloak." The girl said coldly._

 _"You're Qrow's niece?" Neo asked, attempting to find out who she was._

 _"Not by blood. I'd like my cloak back." She stated again._

 _"Tell me who you are and I might give you your cloak back." Neo said trying a different tactic._

 _"I am no one." The girl stated._

 _"Everyone's someone, and clearly you aren't a figment of my imagination. So who are you?" Neo asked, slowly getting more annoyed._

 _The girl signed, showing the first real emotion since she appeared in front of Neo, "You're not going to give back my cloak unless I say will you?" The girl asked._

 _"Nope, and I only said maybe I'll give it back." Neo said teasingly._

 _"My name's Ruby." The girl, Ruby told her._

 _"It's nice to meet you Ruby, my name's Neo." Neo said with a large smile._

 _Ruby just sighed out once more, realising she wouldn't be getting her cloak back anytime soon so instead told her, "I'll take you back to the school. Keep the sword, you're unarmed constantly so it's better you are armed." Ruby said, taking the lead to take her away from the forest._

 _Neo followed behind as she held the sword in her hand but asked, "Um but where do I put it? And I don't know how to use a sword." Neo stated._

 _"You seemed good enough with one there, maybe not the best but good enough to get by. And I'm sure you'll think of something to use." Ruby stated._

 _"I don't know, I was just doing swish, swish, and stab. Is that right?" Neo asked._

 _Ruby sighed once more as she heard Neo, "I really hope you're joking." Ruby said tiredly._

 _"Nope. Wait, I have an idea. Why don't you train me? You clearly know how to use one." Neo suggested._

 _"No." Ruby stated bluntly._

 _"Why not? I promise I'll be a good student, ask my teachers I constantly pay attention and put in the work." Neo said, attempting to convince Ruby._

 _"You wouldn't like my training, it'd be much too hard." Ruby said easily._

 _"Fine than, if you won't train me I'll keep the cloak, it's rather warm and cosy." Neo said, wrapping herself in the cloak._

 _Sighing once more at Neo's actions, "If I train you do I get my cloak back? Even if you drop out?" Ruby asked._

 _"Of course, but I won't drop out. I swear it." Neo said, holding a hand up._

 _"Be careful with that, if you're swearing vows someone may take advantage." Ruby replied as they came to the clearing just in front of the school._

 _"Off you go then." Ruby said, waving in the direction of the school._

 _"But what about training?" Neo asked._

 _"I need to speak to Qrow and then maybe we'll look at something for training." Ruby said as she almost vanished from sight but Neo could just see her walking towards the school._

* * *

"The next day I spoke to Qrow and he's telling me all about how they have a private hall set up for Ruby and I to train inside and it was hell, she was rather brutal in her training and very intense but she taught me how to use a sword and some." Neo told them.

"So like the training we're doing?" Weiss asked.

"A little but Ruby was a little bit more intense with it, I was able to get her to tone it down a little after I'd gotten better." Neo told them.

"You said Ruby vanished from sight a few times was that her super speed?" Yang asked.

"Yes and no, I can't go into specifics because, well I don't really understand it myself so I can't really explain it well." Neo answered.

"You can explain it well, you just don't want to." Ruby said weakly from her spot on the bed, a teasing smile appearing on her face.

"Ruby!" Neo cried out, immediately hugging Ruby tightly while the rest of the team were a little more reserved.

"Hello Cheri." Ruby replied softly, the weakness clear in her voice

Once Neo broke the hug the other girls in the room bar Mizu leaned in to hug Ruby and say a little something each before giving Ruby some space to talk.

"Are you alright?" Yang asked.

"I'm awake and alive, but my disease is accelerating." Ruby said, having confirmed they know from Neo.

"Accelerating how?" Weiss asked.

"Over time the disease will slowly shut down parts of my body, with the amount of Aura I used stopping the Grimm accelerated it to the point that now I can't use my legs, over the next few days it'll work its way through the other systems in my body shutting them down." Ruby told them, her voice emotionless as was her face with Neo's.

Once the shock had died down Neo turned to look at Mizu giving her a look to tell Ruby the truth while she was here and rather quickly.

"Could I speak to Ruby alone please?" Mizu asked the room.

"Of course." Blake said, understanding what was about to happen and quickly ushered people out of the room while Winter remained behind with her mother in an attempt to offer support.

"Ruby, what do you know about your mothers time at Beacon?" Mizu asked.

"Not a lot, she said she was on a team with Qrow, Raven and herself but she never mentioned anyone else." Ruby answered, confused but slightly scared with the way Neo was holding her tighter when Mizu started talking.

"That's not strictly true, there were four of us. Qrow, your mother, a woman called Raven and myself. Ozpin was our teacher while at the school and acted as a mentor for all of us." Mizu informed them.

Ruby remained quiet, allowing Mizu to speak but also to not reveal certain aspects she already knew.

"We were all close, Qrow acted like a brother to each of us although we had no blood relations to him. But this isn't what I'm talking about, your mother, Summer and I were close. We were partners but we became more. About a year into school she revealed she was a Faunus to us all, however oddly enough Raven wasn't one." Mizu said, almost thoughtful.

"After she revealed she was a Faunus we accepted her, which surprised her as I was meant to be a Schnee and hate them but that was my father's legacy. We started dating, or rather we started dating in secret so my father wouldn't find out. He hated Faunus but he also hated same sex relationships but luckily the world itself had moved on. We were able to get through a lot of it by being partners but the more romantic side we couldn't." Mizu explained.

"We managed to discover a few spots where we could hide away from everyone and just be together, after graduation this became the snowy forests of Patch. But my father was calculating and had everything planned out for me. He allowed me a couple years to tame my wild side as he called it before he told me I was to marry a man so he could take over the company as a Schnee." Mizu informed her.

"So you chose him over my mother." Ruby stated, already knowing the answer.

"I was scared, I knew I'd be disowned and I was scared of what would happen if I did. Your mother didn't agree with me, saying we could easily live together but I ran scared. When she realised I wasn't going to change my mind she asked for something else, something that only I could really give her." Mizu said.

"A child." Neo said softly, speaking for the first time.

"Yes, using dust I was able to artificially impregnate Summer using both of our DNA's as a base. I never found out if it worked or not, until I found you in that forest and you showed me you were a wolf Faunus alongside asking Ozpin and Qrow did I discover that you were Summer's child." Mizu said awkwardly, unsure how to come out and say it.

"You're my father?" Ruby asked, her voice was quiet and weak but also unbelieving at the same time.

"Yes." Mizu replied, her voice tight and restrained with emotion.

Ruby just sat still, her face betraying nothing of what was going on in her mind as she seemed to process all the information but she could only ask one thing, "Why did you leave?" Ruby asked, her voice sounding weaker than before and cracking.

Mizu let out a haggard sob as she heard the question and with tears running down her face she explained what she had told Neo about why she left and her father.

"You planned on taking over the company and find my mother weren't you? But you realised it would take a long time to do so you attempted to search for her but couldn't find her." Ruby stated after Mizu had finished explaining.

"Yes that's correct, I tried but couldn't find her anywhere in that forest. And well as you know I ended up finding you and learning about everything." Mizu answered her.

"I um, I don't know what to say, or really do." Ruby answered honestly.

Mizu remained silent as well, unsure what to say in reply as she had thought about this moment being a tearful reunion with Summer and introducing herself to her daughter but it clearly wasn't like that.

Ruby let out a loud yawn, blushing as she caught herself yawning with her mouth wide open and looked away from the group.

"I think Ruby's tired, would you mind?" Neo asked gently, the two Schnee women leaving the room.

"I think I should explain to my other daughter about all of this as well." Mizu replied as she left the room.

Once the two women had left the room it allowed Neo and Ruby some time together, it was quiet as they simply shared an embrace with Neo asking, "What's going on in your mind?" Neo asked.

"I don't know. I've searched for my father for so long, I didn't know what to expect. I thought that maybe I'd find out they had died or something but well I didn't expect to run into them by accident, I had a feeling my father was a woman by the way my mother spoke but well…" Ruby started to say.

"You didn't think your father would be a Schnee did you?" Neo asked jokingly.

Ruby couldn't help but laugh in response, "No I didn't think my father would be a Schnee." Ruby replied, "I don't really know how to react to it, how should I react?" Ruby asked.

"Well it's down to you I guess, I became angry at Mizu when she told me. We were arguing about you getting treatment but I said it was against your wishes." Neo explained.

"Thank you." Ruby added, thanking her for making sure her wishes were honoured.

"But as to how you should react, I don't know. How do you feel about it?" Neo asked.

"I don't know. I mean there's relief that I know but also a sort of numbness, I feel like there's so much on my mind that it's just not my main concern, but also I feel almost like a third wheel. She already has two daughters she raised and now I've come along and sort of upset all that." Ruby explained.

"I'm pretty sure she doesn't think that, she was scared for you when I explained what was wrong." Neo told Ruby.

Ruby just hummed in acknowledgement as she instead changed the topic saying softly, "Aria, are you there?"

"I am mother." Aria said, materializing herself in her semi-corporal form.

"Come here." Ruby said, holding out her other arm towards her. While Aria herself couldn't feel anything nor the other two women but it was more the act itself.

"How long do you have Ruby?" Neo asked softly as they were hugging.

"I don't know." Ruby replied quickly.

"That might work for the others but it won't work for me, how long do you have?" Neo asked once more, glaring lightly at Ruby as if daring her to lie again.

"Three days. She's given me three days to make my peace before she has to take me." Ruby replied honestly, but Neo still burst out crying at the news.

Ruby could only hold Neo tightly as she cried, knowing that she herself couldn't cry over it and she noticed Aria attempting to hold her mother's tighter.

"Why do you have to die?" Aria asked, not completely understanding the concept.

"Humans all die sometime sweetie, it's just that my time is up a little bit shorter than everyone else." Ruby explained gently, hoping Aria would understand.

"But why is it up so soon?" Aria asked.

"It just is, I have a disease. I told you about it before, it slowly breaks down my body and shuts it down." Ruby told her.

"I remember." Aria said immediately but her expression grew sad.

"It's alright sweetie, I'm just going to rest somewhere for a bit. You'll be strong for me and help mommy won't you?" Ruby asked.

"Of course. I'll help mommy." Aria said fast.

"Good girl." Ruby replied, smiling at Aria. "Could I speak to mommy alone for a few minutes sweetie?" Ruby asked.

Aria nodded her head as she vanished from corporal existence leaving the two women alone once more.

"I want us to get married, if we have three days I want us to get married before it's too late." Neo whispered to Ruby.

"Of course, we can keep it small. Get Ozpin to officiate for us, maybe have a couple people to witness it." Ruby replied back.

"I hope I get an invite." A female voice said from the corner of the room nearest the door.

The woman wore a shallow cut black dress with an assortment of necklaces of beads around her neck with a red girdle belt and matching gauntlets. She had some sort of material hanging on the right side of her skirt and she had black, thigh length boots with a red splatter pattern on them.

What freaked at least Neo out the most was the full face mask the woman was wearing which had four eye slits on it and resembled a Nevermore.

"Goddess! Raven would you stop scaring me with that fucking mask!" Neo said quickly which only caused Ruby and Raven to both laugh at her.

"I'm sorry Neo, it's just fun to scare you." Raven replied, removing her mask to store it next to her rather large weapon. Doing this she revealed her red eyes and almost scary similarities to Yang.

"You're just cruel." Neo replied, sticking her tongue out at Raven.

"How much did you hear?" Ruby asked first.

"Not even a hello first?" Raven teased.

Ruby was hesitant for a minute as she had some sort of internal debate before she replied, "Hello…auntie." Ruby said slowly.

 **A/N**

 **So the new WoR was brilliant and quite interesting so I've got a few ideas from that though I'm quite happy that I've sort of followed it all, sort of.**

 **Not too much to say, except what you think of the chapter? It's out of the bag now and everything plus a new character to see and relations.**

 **I'm working on a couple things, mainly trying to finish Valetown Tales and Surfing Blues and possibly Singing to hide the suffering if I can, which will be shorter than first planned.**

 **That's about it, again I'm still looking for prompts again, open to anything you throw at me so please please please throw away ^_^**

 **Anyway until next time. ^_^**


	23. Chapter 23

" _The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time."_

― _Mark Twain_

 **Chapter 23-**

Raven's eyes seemed to water slightly at the simple word as she replied, "Hello little Rose. I heard all of it from Mizu's explanation through to now." Raven replied, walking to the bed to engulf both women into a hug.

"I see." Ruby said, looking away from her aunt.

"Don't give me that Ruby, I've known about your illness for a while. Summer told me about it when she found out, she was freaked out and it was rather funny to see my sister who was normally so collected freaking out a lot. It was understandable but it was still funny looking back on it." Raven said jokingly.

Ruby couldn't help but laugh in response to Raven's statement as she knew her mother could face down hundreds of Grimm without a problem but would constantly worry about her and would freak out easily.

"Those first few months with you I practically lived with your mother to help her out, and she was freaked out a lot from it." Raven told the pair.

Both girls laughed lightly as Raven told them about Summer, before the topic got more serious, "So you heard us talking?" Ruby asked.

"I did, I was surprised that Mizu is your father but I should have seen it. They were always together and doing a lot of things together so it was pretty obvious, and Summer never went to Mizu's wedding." Raven said.

"That wasn't what we meant." Neo said softly.

"I know what you meant, and well I'd rather not think about it if you don't mind. Rather I'd want to help you plan out your wedding, we haven't got long to get it all sorted." Raven said, sitting on a chair next to the bed.

Both women smiled at the woman's attitude to the whole situation as they moved onto the topic of the wedding itself.

"We want it simple, a couple of people and someone to officiate for us but that's it. I can't really do much as I'm wheelchair bound." Ruby said.

"Well that doesn't mean you can't dress up. And you Neo have no excuse, I'm sure you both have a dress you can wear for it as well. When do you want to do it?" Raven asked.

"Tomorrow if possible, the next day if not." Neo said, not having to explain why the short timeframe.

"Ok, I can speak to Ozpin for you. I can get to his office easily without anyone seeing." Raven said, "Anything you'd like from your room?" The woman asked.

"Neo, you need to get somethings don't you?" Ruby asked.

"I do, I'll leave you two alone." Neo said, jumping up as she left the room. Knowing that Ruby wanted her to stretch but also shower as well from the dirt from the fighting and sweat from waiting in that hospital room.

"You realise that Yang will be there don't you?" Ruby stated bluntly.

Raven's face immediately lost its smile and colour as she seemed to collapse into the seat. "How's she been doing?" She asked.

"Good, good in her lessons although she has been picking fights with Neo over me, thinking that she was abusing me or something but otherwise she's great, well trained and attentive when she wants to be but also playful and gets into trouble." Ruby explained.

"I see. Well Tai did teach her." Raven replied back weakly.

"You know you can't hide from her, she'll work it out eventually." Ruby told her.

"I know, but well she doesn't really remember my face. I left before she could really start to know me, she was only three years old." Raven said sadly.

"I know, for that I apologise to you. You could have gone back sooner if it wasn't for me." Ruby replied.

"Don't apologise, I wouldn't have it any other way, you know that and I know that. I will mourn the time I lost with Yang but I won't ever regret it because I know that what I did was for a good cause." Raven replied back quickly.

"Still, I'm pretty sure you can tell her now. She already knows about me, so it's only a matter of time." Ruby told her.

"But how do I tell her? It's not something I can just come out with." Raven said. "I can't just say, 'Hey Yang I'm the mother that abandoned you when you were just three years old to join the White Fang.' Can I?" Raven stated.

Ruby could only laugh in response to Raven's look and her words as she said, "Mizu said that's exactly what she was worried about, but if you keep letting worry dictate everything you'll never get anything done." Ruby replied.

"I guess, I just don't really know how to do it." Raven said once more.

"Wing it, it's what I do." Ruby said with a shrug.

"I wouldn't tell anyone else that, if they knew you winged it than I don't think there would be as much trust in you." Raven informed her, smiling at Ruby's attitude.

"Well I better let you rest while I sort some stuff out for your wedding I guess." Raven said, standing from her chair.

"And telling Yang." Ruby added as Raven walked out of the room, instead of teleporting as she normally did.

* * *

 **With Neo.**

Neo already knew what Ruby was going to tell Raven, she knew Ruby wanted to make peace and this was on the things Ruby wanted to have get sorted before she goes, or at least out in the open.

But Neo wasn't too concerned with that as she went towards the Schnee women's dorm, Aria had told her that they were all in Mizu's dorm room, including Blake for some odd reason but she didn't question it.

She had already stopped by the armoury to retrieve Ruby's broken weapons now it was only the second part of her plan.

Lightly knocking on the door she waited to hear a reply before entering the room to find all four women sitting on the two beds.

"Hello, hope I'm not disturbing anything." Neo said politely as she came into the room.

"It's alright Neo, I was just explaining about the fact I'm Ruby's father to them." Mizu replied.

"I see, and how's that going?" Neo asked.

"Well, I think Weiss is over most of the shock." Winter teased as her sister just glared towards her.

"Ah well as long as most of it is over with." Neo replied back, as she sat down next to Weiss and Blake.

"I never really expected it to happen, I never really thought much on what my mother did before." Weiss added.

"We've all got a history, some longer than others." Neo said with a shrug.

"So what brings you here Neo? I thought you'd be staying with Ruby." Blake asked.

"She's talking with someone at the moment, it's another issue that brings me here, or rather two things." Neo replied.

"What are they?" Weiss asked.

"Firstly Ruby and I are planning to marry, we want you four to all be present alongside Yang and a couple other people." Neo stated.

"When and where?" Mizu asked.

"Either tomorrow or the day after at the latest. And we plan to have it here at Beacon." Neo answered.

"That's rather quick, what about dresses and everything?" Weiss asked.

"We're planning on just using our dresses from the dance, we don't have the time to really go and try them on. And Ruby is wheelchair bound at least so I'd rather not take her into the town itself." Neo responded.

"I see. What is the other thing you came to ask us?" Mizu asked.

Neo took the backpack she had gotten from the armoury, opening it up as she took out Ruby's broken short sword. "Ruby's weapons are broken, and in need of some repair. She holds the belief that when passing through to the next side she should be armed as the warrior she is and well, I simply don't have the time needed to repair all the weapons." Neo informed them all.

"Blake, if you wouldn't mind. If you could repair Ruby's short sword." Neo asked, handing over the simple weapon to the feline Faunus.

Blake nodded as she took the weapon into her hands, drawing the sword to see that it was broken in half. "I can do it." Blake replied.

Neo smiled her thanks towards the Faunus before turning to the younger of the two sisters, "Weiss with your affinity to your rapier I think if you could repair her throwing knives, she rarely uses them but are important all the same." Neo asked, handing over two sheaths of five throwing knives, some missing.

"But why me? I'm not particularly close to her." Weiss asked, confused but accepted the two leather sheaths.

"No, but even if you've only just found out you're half-sisters so you have a connection to her. Blake and Ruby both share a history together although it may seem a little rocky and for the large part unknown, but as one of her sisters you share a connection to her." Neo explained and once seeing Weiss nod in response she turned to Winter.

"This is her longer sword, the short sword is an offhand one while the long sword is her primary. You've gotten the closest to Ruby in a long time and even though she may not say it she trusts you and so I would like for you to repair this." Neo explained.

Winter took the sword carefully, as she gently took it out to see the blade broken off but also split down the middle alongside the handle being a little broken. "It would be my honour." Winter said, inclining her head towards Neo.

Once more Neo smiled her thanks towards the woman and how she treated the weapon at the same time before finally turning towards Mizu, "I'm sorry to say I'm asking you the hardest job." Neo said, taking out the three parts Crescent Rose broke into.

Firstly the sniper and handle part of the weapon had completely snapped exposing the barrel and firing chamber while the blade section had become dull and bent out of shape with the tips having broken off.

"You hold the most relation to Ruby and so I would ask if you could repair her most beloved weapon." Neo asked, holding out the bag to her with the broken pieces inside.

"But surely you would want to do that?" Mizu asked.

"Perhaps but I have something else to repair instead." Neo explained.

"Does Ruby know about this?" Weiss asked.

"She doesn't, I don't think it's completely on her mind but I know she has thought about it." Neo answered.

"What do you mean?" Blake asked.

"She's dying, we all know it as well as she does. One thing I learnt about her beliefs echoed by her mother and aunt is the fact that they are warriors. They are very in much in touch with nature and their environment and believe about pre-destined paths and the Fates. But they are also warriors when needed to be, so their weapons are everything to them. It is rare that Ruby isn't armed in some way, normally she's deadly enough with her body but weapons carry symbols." Neo explained to them.

"Wait. But at the dance she wasn't armed, was she?" Weiss asked.

"She was. Ruby, her mother and aunt all carry a small dagger. It's one they forged themselves and keep on their person constantly. It's said that they would only ever use it to deliver mercy killing, or against themselves." Neo explained.

"Summer had one as well, she didn't tell me too much about it except she made it herself, and she always carried it with her. It was a white blade with a red handle and a rose engraved into it." Mizu stated.

Neo smiled in response, "The blade symbolises there person, Ruby's is a black blade and red handle alongside a rose engraving to show her families symbol." Neo explained. "But I digress from my topic, their weapons are important to them. Each are handmade and can only be used by themselves or significant other. When she passes onto the next life, if possible she should at least be armed with her knife as a minimum but the highest honour is to have all their weapons on their body as they pass on." Neo explained.

"If they have fought in battle and been seriously hurt with their weapons broken, those closest to the person are trusted enough to repair the weapons so they may pass onto the next life, ready to face any foe." Neo explained the belief.

The four women all understood this, knowing the varying beliefs out there in the world but Blake seemed to pick up on one important thing, "You said that Ruby has an aunt. Who is she?" Blake asked.

"You'll meet her soon enough, she's a little odd and enjoys scaring people, especially new people. But you'll meet her soon enough." Neo told them, as she got up from her seat bowing slightly to the group. "Thank you for doing this." Neo added before leaving the room.

Now all she needed to do was get someone to repair Ruby's two pistols while she had the mask to repair herself.

* * *

Ruby was laying in her bed with her scroll in her hands, typing out quick fire messages to her other contact within the White Fang, updating them on the situation and how things were going to slightly change.

She had even spoken to Emerald who had come to see her briefly once she heard what had happened but that visit was short, just to see how the woman was doing as Emerald quickly left.

She heard a loud banging sound which she disregarded at first but when her door was almost blown off its hinges she noticed Yang, eyes having changed colour showing she was angry with her weapons deployed.

"Yes Yang?" Ruby asked gently.

"Don't yes Yang me. It was your fault! Your fault my mother left me!" Yang shouted at Ruby.

Ruby sat herself up carefully as she turned her body to face Yang, "She finally worked up the courage to tell you then?" She mumbled to herself.

"Why! Why did you take my mother away from me?" Yang shouted at her, advancing on the woman.

"I didn't take your mother away." Ruby said.

"Yes you did. You made her leave me!" Yang shouted once more.

"I don't make anyone do anything, I asked her about what she knew about the White Fang and their plans. She suggested that she infiltrates the White Fang and pass me any information she finds. I didn't ask her how she could do it, or how she got to such a high level so quickly." Ruby said.

"You're lying. My mother would never leave me." Yang shouted, getting right up to Ruby's face.

"You're right, she wouldn't leave you. It was very hard for her to go, she planned only to do it for a short time before coming back but it didn't work out like that. She was in too deep and couldn't get out, even now she can't be gone for too long without being noticed." Ruby attempted to explain but Yang didn't want to hear it.

"You took my mother from me!" Yang repeated.

"She didn't do anything Yang, it was my own choice to go. I regret the fact I had to leave you, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat." Raven said, coming through the door.

"If she didn't ask you, you wouldn't have gone!" Yang replied back harshly.

"Yes I would have, if Ruby didn't ask me I'm sure someone else would have or I would have done it myself, either way I was going to attempt to stop the White Fang. It's my duty as a Huntress." Raven said gently, approaching her daughter slowly.

"But…" Yang tried to reply but couldn't find the words.

"Why don't we leave Ruby alone to rest? She has a big day tomorrow." Raven suggested.

Yang just nodded allowing her mother to lead her out of the room where the pair came across Neo, who after a few brief words, Neo handed over two pistols to Raven before they went their separate ways.

"Raven finally tell Yang?" Neo asked, entering the room but quickly changed topics when she saw Ruby trying to get out of bed. "Oh no, stay in bed." Neo said, stopping Ruby.

"I'm fine, I need to get out of this bed." Ruby said.

"How about I get the doctor first? See what he says." Neo said.

"Fine." Ruby said, knowing she wasn't going to get out of here otherwise.

Five minutes later found a male doctor in the room, asking Ruby different questions as he checked her over.

"Can you feel this?" The doctor asked, putting pressure against Ruby's foot.

"I can. I can feel my legs, but I just can't move them. It's like they're being weighted or something." Ruby explained.

"Ok than, I'll permit you to leave the bed but you must always be with someone. You are not allowed to be alone, and you will also need a wheelchair as well as you can't move your legs." The doctor explained. "Also we would prefer to monitor you, but your um…daughter is able to monitor you and inform us of any changes." The doctor said, unsure how to refer to Aria.

"Ok, but I want to make it known that I don't want anything done to extend my life. When it ends, it ends. No operation, or drugs." Ruby explained.

"If that is your wish, we have to respect that." The doctor said, although it was clear he didn't like it.

"Thank you." Ruby replied as the doctor left.

"Alright, what's wrong?" Neo asked when the doctor had gone.

"Nothing's wrong. I've just been getting bored being in this room all day." Ruby replied.

"So what do you want to do?" Neo asked.

"Well Raven's sorting out the wedding, I can't train or do anything. Nothing's catching my eyes to read." Ruby stated.

"So you wanted to get out of bed and do what exactly?" Neo asked teasingly.

"Um." Ruby said, unsure how to answer.

"Hey Rubes, you ready or not?" Naomi asked, coming into the room before stopping to see Neo glaring at her.

"Um I'll wait outside." Naomi said, turning immediately to leave the room.

"Alright, so you were having Naomi take you somewhere. Where?" Neo asked, turning her glare onto Ruby.

"Town. I got her to load up my bike and I was going to ride around town." Ruby said.

"You can't use your legs, how were you going to ride?" Neo asked.

"Tape my legs to the bike and have Arai change the gears for me." Ruby said shyly.

"Really? I hope for your sake that you're joking." Neo threatened, not believing that Ruby would do that.

"Um." Ruby said, looking away from Neo.

Sighing to herself Neo softened her tone as she said, "Next time just ask me, ok?" Neo said.

"Ok." Ruby replied, not correcting Neo that there wouldn't be a next time.

"Well we better not keep Naomi waiting, is that the only reason we're going to Vale?" Neo asked, curious if there was something else.

"No. Naomi is moving my arsenal again, she's bringing it to Beacon to store it." Ruby said softly, her intent clear that it was for Neo to do with as she pleased.

Ruby didn't own much except for weapons, all of which she had modified herself and has either used at one point or has at least trained herself to be sufficient in their use.

"Come on then." Neo said, opening the door to see a wheelchair waiting for them. Taking it she pulled it inside the room and helped Ruby get into it.

Ruby reluctantly climbed into the wheelchair, not liking the fact she had to be in one but knew Neo wouldn't let her try and walk by herself.

"Could you hold onto me?" Ruby asked gently.

"Of course." Neo said, reaching down to hold onto Ruby as she wheeled her from the medical centre to the docks, luckily they didn't run into anyone or those they saw didn't seem to notice them.

They found Naomi waiting for them next to her aircraft, Ruby's bike being displayed neatly in the back.

"Hello ladies, your chariot awaits." Naomi said dramatically.

"Thank you Naomi, from both of us. However next time you plan on taking Ruby into town along while she can't use her legs, I expect to know first." Neo said, glaring at Naomi.

"Sure, sure. I hope you don't mind but I'm meeting an old friend tonight, will you two be alright?" Naomi asked, helping Neo get Ruby into the aircraft.

"We'll be fine, thank you. Who are you meeting?" Ruby asked.

"A friend I met on a joint military exercise with Atlas a few years ago, we kept in contact with each over the years and well, she's in town so we're going to meet up." Naomi informed the pair as she climbed into the cockpit.

"I see, I hope you have fun." Neo said.

"Thanks, it'll be nice seeing her again." Naomi replied, getting the aircraft powered up and into the air.

The rest of the trip was silent, even when Naomi had put them into hover mode to help Ruby onto the bike with Neo.

"I'll drop you on the edge of town so you can drive in, that alright?" Naomi called back.

"It's fine, thank you for doing this." Neo replied.

"It's no problem." Naomi called back.

"Show your friend my arsenal, I'm sure she'll like it." Ruby called back.

"I might just do that, I'm sure you'll like her weapon choices as well. Anyway touching down in five." Naomi said.

As soon as the back touched the ground, with the ramp down they were already roaring out of the aircraft and onto the road.

"Where do you want to go?" Neo asked as they quickly approached the city.

"I don't know. Let's just drive." Ruby replied, holding onto Neo alongside leaning her head against her back.

"Got it. Nowhere it is." Neo said back smiling.

Neo drove into the town and along the roads, when it came up to dividing paths they just went in whichever direction felt natural to them.

After almost two hours of just purely driving around the entire city they somehow ended up at the location of the breach. The ruined shops, even part of the ground was still destroyed from where the train had breached through the centre.

Neo slowed up until she finally stopped the bike as they looked around at the damage, the silence between the two was broken when Ruby spoke.

"How many?" She asked softly, she asked so softly that Neo barely heard her. But she understood the question.

"About twenty injured by the initial blast and the Grimm that made it through, five were killed outright in the blast, none died by Grimm." Neo said emotionlessly.

Ruby didn't answer as she just nodded her head, looking around at the damage. "When will it end? When will the pointless deaths end?" She asked.

"I don't know, soon I hope." Neo said.

"How many more will need to die? How many more will die because of other people?" Ruby asked, just looking at the damage around the entire area.

"Come on, it doesn't do one's soul good to dwell on the past." Neo said, accelerating the bike away from breach and somewhere else in the town.

"Where do you want to go?" Neo asked.

"Wherever you go. I want to just stay with you, where my home is." Ruby replied back in a whisper, leaning into Neo's body.

"Ok. Home it is." Neo replied, smiling as she took them away once more, but this time away from the city for good.

 **A/N**

 **So this wasn't the chapter I thought it was, I thought it was the wedding one but actually it's the one before it. I'm slowly running out of what I've written so far as I've been focusing on Surfing Blues and Valetown tales in order to get them finished and perhaps finishing off Singing to hide the Suffering, which I feel is going to be rather shit as I've sort of speed things up a little in there.**

 **Not much else to really say, I'm undecided as to when I'll release the next chapter. Either Saturday or earlier just to tease all of you ;)**

 **Oh and if you want an explanation of Ruby's family tree, then just ask. I've sort of got it worked out, I think.**

 **Also with the release of the Extra Life pokemon poster I'm more determined to finish and post my pokemon story but I'm trying something new. Actually finishing the story before I fucking post it. Hopefully it'll work great, just a little annoying that I've got to rework a few things to incorporate some of the pokemon.**

 **Anyway that's pretty much it, so until next time. ^_^**


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N**

 **Little note just to say that this is the last chapter. Full explanation at the bottom.**

" _It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. We all know that our time in this world is limited, and that eventually all of us will end up underneath some sheet, never to wake up. And yet it is always a surprise when it happens to someone we know." ― Lemony Snicket, Horseradish_

 **Chapter 24-**

"Do you need help getting ready?" Raven asked, inside Ruby's hospital room as she laid out the dress for Ruby.

"Do you mind?" Ruby asked weakly, her body feeling weaker than the day before.

"Of course not. Qrow's meant to arrive shortly." Raven said, helping Ruby to sit up.

"I know, I spoke to him this morning. He seemed rather calm despite everything." Ruby noted.

"I don't think he'll be calm today. Do you know what's happening?" Raven asked, moving Ruby's bedsheet away but stopped at removing the gown she was in.

"Neo asked Qrow to walk her down the aisle, I know that much and Ozpin will be officiating. Also Winter and Weiss will be standing with me, while Blake and Naomi will stand with Neo. Aria is also going to be by my side." Ruby informed her.

Raven was about to answer when a knock on the door interrupted them, a few seconds later Mizu walked into the room. "Hello Raven, Ruby." Mizu said.

"Mizu." Raven said, keeping it neutral as she hid her own feelings.

"Ruby, I have a request." Mizu asked the woman in the bed.

"Could I ask something first?" Ruby asked weakly.

"Of course." Mizu asked, worried about how Ruby sounded.

"I've been debating who I want to walk me down the aisle. Both Neo and I are going to be walked down and well I'm not sure. But I would like for you to walk me down. Raven is my aunt and willing to stand at my side instead of walking me down in place of you as my…father. Walking me down." Ruby asked, unsure on using the word father.

Mizu was speechless that Ruby would ask her that, so much so that she didn't answer immediately which caused Ruby to speak up again.

"If you don't, I understand. It is a lot to ask…" Ruby begun explaining until Mizu interrupted her.

"No, it'll be my honour to walk you down the aisle Ruby." Mizu quickly said.

"Thank you." Ruby replied back softly.

Mizu only smiled in return, her face lighting up at the offer extended to her by Ruby, as she forgot her question she wanted to ask.

Shortly afterwards Winter and surprisingly Weiss came into the room to help Ruby get ready as she did for the dance. This time instead of the dark red, she had used a lighter shade that matched the red roses on her wrists but for the part underneath her bottom lip was pink and above her top line was white. While the eyeliner she had kept the same.

The dress was a little harder for Ruby to put on because Ruby couldn't use her legs very well but between the three other women they were able to do it.

The last thing to do was Ruby's hair which Mizu happily did while the other two women got ready themselves. Leaving the father and daughter alone.

"I take it you haven't seen Neo today." Mizu said, making idle conversation.

"No I haven't. I saw her this morning when we awoke together but I haven't seen her since." Ruby stated.

"I see. Ozpin's officiating isn't he?" Mizu asked.

"He is." Ruby replied.

"Have a look." Mizu said, taking a step back from Ruby to allow her to see her hair in a mirror.

Mizu had styled her hair down for the most part, flowing down her back while she had taken a handful of strands on either side of Ruby's face. These seemed to have her natural red tips in large amounts as the pieces looked to be more red than black.

"It's lovely, thank you." Ruby said, looking at the mirror in her hands.

"I'm glad you like it, are you ready?" Mizu asked as she pushed her wheelchair next to the bed.

"Almost. Underneath the bed I have a box, Neo made me put them in there. Could you get it for me please?" Ruby asked.

Mizu nodded as she carefully bent down in her dress, it was a dark blue colour with a small red snowflake just above her heart. She was also wearing her heels as well to make her just taller than Ruby.

Reaching underneath the bed she pulled out a long cardboard, placing it beside Ruby on the bed who just opened it up.

Inside was a short sword with a white blade but wooden handle with a small metal rose on the end of the handle. The second weapon inside was her dagger, which was quickly attached to her waist beside the short sword.

"My original weapons were broken, except for my dagger. Naomi retrieved this and my other weapons last night for me. My belief, as with my mothers and aunts is that of warriors. Even at weddings we should be armed, you'll see more during the ceremony." Ruby said, stating it briefly as she pulled out something wrapped in paper.

Mizu just nodded and then seeing Ruby attempt to move towards the wheelchair immediately went help her climb into the chair and proceed to push her out of the room and towards the hall that was being used for them.

When they arrived at the hall, they were waiting just outside while Ruby was given a chance to look inside. At the front she spotted Winter, Weiss, Raven and Aria to the right of where Ozpin was standing. While to the left was Blake and Naomi. All of which were dressed in their outfits from the dance or in Raven's case her normal outfit, with her weapon at her side and a hand resting on its handle. Also Aria had a dress on as well that mirrored Ruby's but was a light pink instead of red.

In Naomi's case she was dressed in her dress blues as she stood proudly next to Blake, talking with the feline Faunus.

Outside of this she saw in the front rows were team JNPR, CFVY and Yang all dressed up in their suits or dresses alongside the teachers in the front rows. But what surprised Ruby the most was the fact that the whole school was also there although in their combat attire instead of dresses but they filled up the entire hall.

As music started playing around the hall Ruby and Mizu watched as Neo appeared, dressed similarly to the dance as well however she wore a mix of white and red roses around her head as a halo instead of the pure red ones she wore before.

Mizu looked down to see Ruby's normally dull, silver eyes full of emotion. Full of love and adoration towards Neo as she watched her walk down the aisle.

Once Qrow had handed her off to the middle he took an item from Raven before standing next to Blake and Naomi who were standing with Neo.

Now as the music changed again it signalled Ruby's turn to go down but as Mizu went to push her through the doors she was stopped.

"I want to walk." Ruby said firmly. Determination filling her body and eyes.

Mizu didn't debate it with Ruby, seeing how determined she was to walk down there she knew she wouldn't stop her so instead helped her up, on weak legs to stand up and she supported Ruby as she took her slow steps forward.

It took much longer than Neo's entrance but Ruby slowly walked forward, making sure to take each step she could. Feeling herself get stronger with each step, by the time she reached Neo she was walking with little support from Mizu.

Smiling widely Neo accepted her from Mizu, holding her hands as they faced each other. "You look amazing." Neo whispered.

"Thank you, you look amazing as well and they all helped me get ready." Ruby said, referring to the women behind her.

"Well I'm glad they did, and thank you." Neo said.

Mizu watched the pair talk softly as Raven got her attention handing her something that when looking down she saw it was a dagger with a white blade and handle alongside a snowflake on the bottom.

"What's this for?" Mizu asked.

"You'll see, just wait for Qrow to move." Raven said briefly as Ozpin started to speak.

"Welcome everyone. It is not often we can celebrate the good things in our lives, with our jobs as Huntsmen or women taking us away to fight against the Grimm it is a dark world we live in. It is hard to sometimes find someone to cherish, but even harder to keep it growing strong throughout all the hardships our lives have." Ozpin started saying, his voice loud enough the whole hall heard.

"These two women here before us, Ruby Rose and Neopolitan have been able to do this dispute everything getting in their way, even death. We are here today to honour this beautiful bond between these two women." Ozpin said, the whole hall listening with rapt attention.

Ozpin paused for a moment as he looked between the two women in front of him and then those with the two women.

"Who stands with Neopolitan?" Ozpin asked.

Blake, Naomi and Qrow all stepped forward as one and spoke as one as well, "I do." Each of them said, their voices blending into one.

"And who stands with Ruby Rose." Ozpin asked after nodding towards Neo.

Winter, Weiss, Raven, Aria and Mizu all stepped forward and spoke as one, although Mizu was a little out as they said, "I do."

Nodding towards the group again Ozpin than turned to Neo again as he asked, "What family stands for Neopolitan?" Ozpin asked.

Qrow stepped forward, the item Raven had given him on display. A pure black dagger with a metal crow on the end of the handle.

"I stand in the place of her family. The Branwen linage." Qrow stated as he stepped forward, presenting the dagger in his hand.

"What family stands for Ruby Rose?" Ozpin asked, turning his attention from Qrow who had moved to stand directly next to Neo.

"I stand for Ruby as her father. The Schnee linage." Mizu said, getting a prompt by Raven on what to do when she was called upon. Than following Qrow's example she displayed the dagger she was given.

There were some gasps of shock in the audience as while they knew who Mizu was, were unsure what the link to Ruby was but upon the declaration that she was Ruby's father shocked more than a fair few.

"These two lines, the Branwen and the Schnee both mix with the marriage of Neopolitan Branwen and Ruby Rose-Schnee. The two families join as one with the blood on which there lines originate from." Ozpin stated.

Immediately Qrow drew the blade of his dagger gently across his palm into a shallow and small cut before holding his hand out.

"A small cut on the finger will be sufficient." Raven whispered to Mizu who only nodded.

She did a small cut on her palm, enough that a little blood came through as she took a hold of Qrow's hand.

"This symbolises the two families joining together in blood. As the two families join, so do the two brides." Ozpin said, nodding towards Qrow and Mizu, signalling that they could remove their hands.

Their Aura's were able to heal the cuts as they moved to stand with the others leaving Ruby and Neo's side.

"Neopolitan Branwen, do you take Ruby Rose-Schnee to be your wife?" Ozpin asked.

"I do." Neo said, looking directly at Ruby.

"And do you, Ruby Rose-Schnee take Neopolitan Branwen to be your wife?" Ozpin asked to Ruby.

"I do." Ruby said, locking eyes with Neo.

"Present your gift." Ozpin asked her.

Ruby removed the small package she had taken down with her as she unwrapped it from the paper to present it to Neo.

The present itself was another dagger, similar to Ruby's but instead of the black and red colours it was pink, white and brown. All of the colours mixed all along the blade and handle while it held a metal rose.

"I present this to you, Neo as a sign of my love. I love you and will always protect you, through this life and the next. While I cannot promise a long life together as your wife, I can promise you will have my love until the end of days and this dagger is a sign of that and my will to protect you. Carry it with you and remember me as I protect you even after I'm gone." Ruby whispered to Neo, but her words carried to those around them and in the front row as they all heard her words.

Neo had tears gathering in her eyes as she listened to Ruby's words, her hands shakily taking the dagger into her hands, not knowing that Ruby had crafted this for her.

Ruby smiled at Neo as they both took the daggers to their hands, cutting the palm slightly as they joined them together.

"The blood has mixed, and the vows given. I present to you Ruby and Neopolitan Rose. You two may kiss." Ozpin said, as Neo immediately pulled Ruby into a deep kiss.

The two sharing the same height with Neo in heels, wrapping their arms around each other they didn't break until they were breathless once more.

The crowd clapped or in some cases banged their weapons against the ground or their side in response to the pair.

It took a little time for the students to leave the large hall, while those standing with the two women and their friends and teachers had all moved to the smaller hall where the dance was held for the party after the wedding. Where there was food for all of them alongside music done by the two DJ's up on a small stage.

Ruby and Neo had gotten something to eat, speaking to a few of the people who had come to the party afterwards, namely JNPR and CFVY who were easy to talk to and were easily able to avert the issue of anything wrong with Ruby.

They spoke more about the ceremony itself and asked about the part with the daggers and the blood which Ruby gladly explained with WWBY listening in as well.

"Our tradition shows that blood is extremely important alongside our weapons. If we make a vow upon our blood than we can't break it, if we do than we lose any honour we had and are known as not to be trusted. We share blood during the ceremony to symbolise uniting together." Ruby explained weakly.

"What about the dagger you gave to Neo?" Weiss asked.

Ruby smiled faintly towards Weiss as she said, "We all carry one, my mother did, my aunt does and so do I. It is customary for the Groom of whoever's last name is being taken on to present a weapon of some kind with the family crest. In this case I presented a dagger I made myself to Neo holding my families crest on the bottom as is our tradition." Ruby explained weakly.

"That's sounds romantic in a way." Winter added.

"Well I believe it is time for our first dance." Neo said, pulling Ruby away from the group as she signalled the DJ's to change the song announcing to everyone what was happening.

Clearing a space Neo pulled Ruby into the middle, supporting her weight as she felt Ruby growing weaker as the night wore on.

"Thank you." Ruby whispered, her voice hinting at the pain she was in.

"I noticed you were looking weak and tired so I thought it would be better to get you away, we do this than we can relax for the rest of the night." Neo told Ruby.

As the soft music started playing, slowly picking up as time went on there wasn't any words in the song until it reached halfway through the song, and even than it was only soft and the majority of people could barely hear them but it wasn't lost on Ruby or Neo.

They danced slowly, enjoying the simple embrace and time together with Neo leading Ruby as the woman was too growing weaker the more she stood up.

As the song reached its end they bowed to the clapping before retreating to a small table set up for them as Ruby almost collapsed into the chair.

The night slowly wore on as the different guests enjoyed themselves, while also taking a little time to speak to Ruby and Neo, however as the night started coming to a close a few people came over to Ruby.

"Ruby, Neo told us about your broken weapons and well we wanted to repair them for you." Weiss said briefly, handing over the belt of throwing knives she had repaired with Yang's help.

"We know what the tradition is and Neo helped with that." Winter explained as she handed over Ruby's longer sword.

"I hope it's to the standard it was before." Blake said gently as she placed the short sword next to her long sword.

"I know this doesn't repair everything between us, I doubt anything really will but I hope this is a step in the right direction." Mizu finished off as she placed Crescent Rose onto the table.

Ruby spotted Raven place her two pistols onto the table as well with just a simple nod in her direction, both knowing the emotion behind the gesture.

Ruby smiled warmly at the group as she pulled Neo down into another kiss before turning back to the others, "Thank you for this. More than you ever know." Ruby said back weakly, and with their help she attached the weapons back onto her person, even though she was in a dress.

As each of them attached the weapon they repaired onto Ruby, said woman gave them a hug and a kiss on the cheek but she hugged Mizu longer as she whispered in her ear, "I love you. Even though I haven't known you for long I love you as my father and I know how hard it was for you to leave my mother, but please don't blame yourself for anything." Ruby whispered, kissing her father's cheek before pulling away.

Once they had all finished they left Ruby and Neo along as Neo had gotten Ruby's wheelchair to return them to their own room, instead of the hospital bed Ruby had been occupying.

The pair were silent as the returned to their room, Neo helping Ruby into the bed as neither cared about wearing their dresses to bed nor did Neo mention about the weapons attached to Ruby's person as the woman made no move to remove them.

"Thank you. For everything." Ruby whispered into Neo's ear as she hugged her from behind in the bed.

"You're welcome. I know how important your traditions are and well, your weapons as well." Neo replied back.

"Thank you all the same. Not many people would have done that for me." Ruby said.

"You'll be surprised once you tell them. But how about we rest? The day has been hard for you today, I don't want you to stress yourself too much. We still have one more day together." Neo said.

"I love you. Always remember that." Ruby whispered, kissing Neo's neck softly.

"I love you too." Neo replied.

"Goodnight, I'll see you later." Ruby whispered the last part softly, making sure that Neo couldn't really hear her as both women drifted off to sleep.

* * *

In the hall, Qrow, Ozpin, Mizu, Glynda alongside the other teachers and Raven were all gathered around a table. The students had all left leaving them all alone as they shared a drink together.

However it was Raven that seemed to change the mood as she seemed to become more alert before standing up, with her glass raised before her as she spoke in a sombre tone.

She said, raising her glass again before downing the drink in one, _"When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home."_ the others following suit quickly after as they realised the meaning behind it.

 **A/N**

 **So I'm actually close to tears at the moment, not for the chapter but just a, I was reading through Sheena's journal about her relationship and history with Monty and well, I was pretty close to crying at it.**

 **As said above this is the last chapter for a while, I've finished Surfing Blues so I'll be posting that once a week instead, this gives me time to finish Valetown Tales and to get ahead with this story.**

 **My plan is to have Legends as my main story with a drabble story set up for me to post drabbles or ideas I get if I so chose, they'll vary in length but Legends is nowhere near finished quite yet, I promise that but I just need to take a little break. So I apologise for that.**

 **Not much else to say, I've got a couple drabbles planned to write out which shouldn't take too long but I'll explain everything when I post the first one.**

 **Other than that thank you for reading and please review any thoughts or prompts you would like me to write and we can have a chat about it.**

 **A side note, something I've noticed that I do is I don't really say goodbye anymore, like at all but instead I say stuff like see you later and things like that. Just a little thing I've noticed I do.**

 **Until next time. ^_^**


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25-**

The next morning Neo awoke early and was surprised to still feel Ruby holding into her loosely as she looked at the clock noticing it was just after eight in the morning, where Ruby would already have been awake a while.

Smiling to herself Neo enjoyed the fact she could wake up in Ruby's arms before her. As she basked in the feeling of this she started to notice that while she felt her own chest raising as she breathed in and out, she couldn't feel Ruby's nor her breathe as she slept.

Worried she quickly turned around and checked Ruby's pulse and breathing but found no pulse nor was she breathing.

Panicking Neo started to shake Ruby but she didn't even get any response from violently shaking the woman so she shouted out, "HELP!" Neo screamed out as she kept trying to shake Ruby awake.

The first to arrive was Raven who had just appeared next to Neo, quickly gauging the situation she did the same checks as Neo did but found that there was nothing.

Raven let go of Ruby, becoming numb as she pulled Neo a hug as she cried, she barely heard what she was saying as through the tears Neo said "You told me you had three days. Three days!" Neo cried out.

Qrow, Mizu, Winter and the others arrived shortly after and taking in the scene before them with the motionless, peaceful looking Ruby and the crying Neo, quickly working it all out.

Mizu started to cry alongside Winter who moved to hold her mother as they took in the scene before them while Qrow, like Raven was just numb with only a single tear going down his cheek as he hugged Raven and Neo.

Slowly but surely WBY arrived to see what had happened, each crying in their own way. It took almost an hour for them all to calm down, however Neo still had tears running down her face as she spoke to Raven, Qrow and Mizu about arrangements as she laid Ruby down flat on the bed.

Taking Ruby's dagger, she put Ruby's arms onto her chest, with the dagger in them gently as she took a step back, waiting.

* * *

" _I'm sorry Ruby, but I couldn't stop it. The disease had spread too far after you exerted yourself and I had no choice." Maya said, mournfully to Ruby._

" _It's ok. I felt myself getting weaker, I don't blame you. I'm ready to pass on. I wonder what my mother will think." Ruby told Maya while also wondering to herself._

" _About that, Ruby I haven't…" Maya started to say before another voice shouted out._

" _WAIT!" Another female voice shouted._

 _Rushing forward another woman dressed in a pure white dress and looked just as beautiful as Maya came rushing forward._

 _Maya immediately moved in front of Ruby, putting herself between this new person and Ruby, "Atropos, what do you want?" Maya asked, protecting Ruby from whoever this woman was._

" _The cuter of threads, but why's she here?" Ruby whispered as she recognised the name. Hand resting on the handle of her sword at her side._

" _You've done enough already Atropos; I will not allow you to do anymore damage." Maya said, stepping towards the other Goddess._

" _Please I want to help." Atropos said hurriedly. "We don't have much time."_

" _Why do you want to help? You were the one who sent Ruby here. Like you do the others." Maya replied back harshly._

" _I know. I'm not unaware of what I do but I know when my thread is messed with outside my influence." Atropos stated._

" _What's she talking about? She controls when the thread ends, so how could it be messed with?" Ruby asked, surprised at hearing this._

" _I chose when the thread ends but sometimes I can't predict when disease may happen but ever since I was given your thread something was wrong with it. Something happened at your birth where you were supposed to be a still birth but you weren't. You survived but you had this disease I hadn't seen before. In every way your thread shouldn't exist and I've had no control over it. Ever." Atropos explained, being blunt over caring like Maya._

" _What? What do you mean by that?" Ruby asked stunned, looking towards Maya._

 _Maya just looked sad towards Ruby, "It's true. I met you as a baby for a few brief moments before you were pulled back into the land of the living. I knew when I next saw you at your first brush with death and ever since but I never told you. I'm sorry." Maya said mournfully._

" _But…" Ruby started to say, stunned at discovering this._

" _After that point your thread was supposed to be long, living to an old age while achieving much but then something developed during your first year of life. I was able to trace back along your thread that it was there at birth and conception but didn't develop until a year after your birth. But I had no control." Atropos explained to Ruby._

" _At birth? Someone didn't want me to live." Ruby said, stunned at hearing this._

" _No someone didn't. I don't know who but someone made you with this disease to kill you if you weren't stillborn." Atropos stated._

" _Is this true?" Ruby asked, turning to Maya._

 _Maya looked sad but still replied back, "If she says it's true, then it is. I know of two times I should have taken you but you fought through it as you were still healthy. This time however I was unable to protect you." Maya replied._

" _Maya may not be able to protect you any further but I can. I can extend your thread or rather, make it anew without this disease as you've technically died from it. I will have a certain amount of control where it ends but it'll be up to you. If you wish to return." Atropos explained._

" _I do, you would do that for me? Why?" Ruby asked._

" _Why don't you see?" Atropos said as she placed her hand onto Ruby's forehead._

 **Death, destruction. Thousands of dead as a floating arena falls to the ground over Vale. Killing thousands in mere seconds as the dust creates a massive burning cloud above. Screams of thousands of people dying all at once entering her ears.**

 **A black Grimm tide rushing out of the forests surrounding Vale killing the survivors and any who wish to help. Beacon a smoking wreck as explosions ripple throughout the large school. A woman standing at the head of hundreds of thousands of Faunus. The dead bodies of people trying to defend Beacon on the floor in front of her.**

 **The view changes as the vision goes over the faces of the dead bodies. Yang bloodied and defeated, Weiss, Winter and Mizu all strung up as prizes by the Faunus. Blake dying at their feet, her ears ripped off and the word traitor marked across her head with a blade.**

 **Finally, the vision rested on Neo who had a woman in a white cloak lying next to her. Ruby's scythe in her hands as she lay looking towards the sky, mournful at what had happened.**

 _Ruby was thrown out the vision violently as she collapses onto the ground beside the two Goddess. "That's going to happen isn't it?" Ruby asked weakly._

" _Yes. You were the catalyst, the main driving force behind stopping them. But the others are inadequate to deal with the scale of the threat. Neo will be too stricken by grief that she can't step up until it is too late. Without you they would all fall." Atropos said emotionlessly._

" _I see." Ruby said, emotionless. "Why are you doing this? Telling me all of this?" Ruby asked coldly._

" _Because someone has messed with my threads, something has happened that shouldn't have happened in the first place. The fact you still live is you attempting to fight against it but now I can help you do that." Atropos explained._

" _I accept than, but I want to know one thing." Ruby stated._

" _What is that?" She asked._

" _I was born to die wasn't I? Someone infected my blood or my growth so I wouldn't live past my first year. Correct?" Ruby asked._

" _Yes, I don't know who. But someone infected what they used to conceive you to kill you." Atropos told Ruby._

" _Thank you." Ruby said, bowing her head to the Goddess._

" _I don't know when you'll be returning, time moves differently here than it does in the mortal realm. But I have given you a gift, your pilot will have the coordinates. Go there quickly before it is too late. Ruby." Atropos said._

 _No more was said as Ruby was enveloped in a bright white light before vanishing from the sight of the two Goddesses._

" _You didn't tell her. Why? This could break her." Maya said, rounding on Atropos as she looked from Ruby's fading form._

" _Why didn't you tell her about her mother?" The other Goddess threw back._

" _You interrupted me before I could. But this will break her, you know it will." Maya accused._

" _If she is as strong as you believe her to be, she will be fine. She will have to relearn but she will fight through this and we will have our champion." Atropos stated before vanishing from sight._

" _Never a straight answer. Please be safe Ruby, and stay strong." Maya said the empty air._

* * *

A rush of air filled her lungs as she shot upright, breathing the life giving oxygen into her lungs. Ruby shot upright not hearing the startled gasps around her as she focused on breathing air back into her cold body.

"Ruby!" Neo screamed out, surprised at seeing Ruby alive.

"How long has it been?" Ruby asked weakly, her voice raspy.

"Half a day. You were dead." Winter answered, crying herself alongside Neo and the others in the room.

"What happened?" Neo asked.

"I don't know. One moment I was somewhere bright, standing in front of a path leading into the light and then I'm back here." Ruby said raspy, lying about it all.

"Is it really you?" Neo asked in disbelief.

"It's me Nea." Ruby said, falling back onto the bed as Neo hugged her tightly.

"Ruby! I'm so happy you're alive." Mizu said, approaching the two hugging women.

What no one expected however was the violent response Ruby had to the woman who was her father, as was with their tradition Ruby had been changed out of her dress for her combat clothes and cape with all of her weapons attached on her body.

Her hand immediately flew to one of her throwing knives as she immediately threw it right past Mizu's cheek. Stunned no one knew how to react until Ruby spoke, her voice dark and weak.

"Leave! It was your fault!" Ruby accused.

"What?" Mizu asked, stunned.

"Leave!" Ruby said louder as she reached for another knife.

Quickly leaving, stunned and crying Mizu left the room without any explanation as to what happened.

"Ruby! What's wrong?" Neo asked quickly, surprised at the sudden change in attitude by Ruby.

Winter moved forward slowly, looking at Ruby's eyes which were almost wild and scared all at the same time.

"Ruby. Calm down. It won't do you any good if you're feral." Winter said, trying to calm the woman down.

"Mother!" Aria shouted out, materialising and hugging her mother. Or her version of hugging her at least.

"Aria." Ruby said, seeming to return her to normal as she smiled warmly at her daughter while turning her body sideways to hug her.

"Ruby, what was that about? What happened?" Neo asked shortly after, allowing the two to see each other again.

"I saw Maya and Atropos. They…. they said I should have died at birth. Maya met me when I was a baby. And Atropos said that I was just born to die, I wasn't supposed to live past birth. Maya knew. She knew and didn't tell me." Ruby said coldly.

"What do you mean?" Winter asked, surprised.

"I wasn't meant to live. Someone had changed my genes so I would die or as a failsafe be left with a disease that would kill me." Ruby said coldly, but quickly.

"What are you talking about? Are you saying someone tried to kill you before you were even born?" Neo asked stunned.

"Yes. It could only have been Mizu. She was the only one who knew, my mother never knew how I got this disease. She assumed it was genetic but…" Ruby said quickly but as she was about to continue her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she collapsed onto the bed.

"Ruby!" Neo screamed out, falling with Ruby's body as she became worried over Ruby's collapse.

 **A/N**

 **So I'm back with this story now, I sort of took an unintended day off posting last week so hence this coming out today.**

 **I've finished this story and it'll be posted weekly or bi-weekly depending on my mood.**

 **I'm working on one other story to be posted after this is finished but after that I'm not sure, I've got a rough idea of things I want to do but as of the moment I'm not entirely sure on it at the moment but I'll decide on that shortly.**

 **Not much more to say, so thanks for reading and until next time.**


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26-**

Winter moved next to Neo and Ruby, quickly checking her nose and mouth alongside her pulse. "Neo, she's alright. She's unconscious." Winter quickly told Neo.

"Really?" Neo said, tears running down her face.

"Yes, look you can see her chest rising and falling." Winter added.

Neo let out a cry of joy as she hugged Ruby tighter while Winter went to get a doctor to check on Ruby and get some systems set up onto her body to monitor her.

When Ruby next woke up she found herself in the familiar surroundings of the hospital section of the academy, a machine putting a steady beeping sound around the room.

Looking over to her side she spotted Neo with her head resting on the side of her bed, sleeping quietly holding her hand, which she saw had an IV drip inside it.

Hearing the door open Ruby turned to face the doorway where she saw a tall woman with short red hair and bright green eyes, atop her head laid two fox ears of a similar shade as her hair, almost hiding away amongst her hair.

"Oh you're awake. I'm Doctor Church." The woman said, introducing herself quietly as she slowly approached the bed.

Ruby was silent as she eyed the woman suspiciously as she seemed to check some of the monitors and something on her scroll.

"Well nutrient levels are slowly building back up, another bag should be enough but your heart rate is levelling out and your Aura is almost back to its staggering levels that's the norm for you." The woman listed off quietly as she checked the different readings.

She turned to face Ruby after she was finished, ignoring Ruby's look towards her as she asked, "How are you feeling?" She asked. "Oh and stop with the look, it only works the first time." She added.

"I feel…tired, weak but better than I have for a little while." Ruby said.

"Good, that's normal. Coming back from the dead twelve hours later isn't a common thing to happen but it's good that you're feeling better." She replied.

"I recognise you from somewhere. But my mind can't think where." Ruby said softly.

"Four years ago, in Atlas at a White Fang base. I was working as a doctor for the White Fang when you attacked. I was the only non-combatant there and you gave me a choice. I chose the out and now I'm working at Beacon as a doctor." The woman explained.

Ruby nodded her head slowly, remembering exactly the event now that the doctor had reminded her. "I remember." Ruby said slowly. Not worried about the woman's knowledge of her identity as she knew the doctor wouldn't say anything.

"Now, have you any questions?" Church asked.

"How long was I out?" Ruby asked.

"Hmm, we put you into the bed about four hours ago, but it took us about half an hour to get everything sorted to move you so four and a half hours." The woman informed Ruby.

"I see. When can I get out of bed? Will I need a wheelchair again?" Ruby asked.

"Well I don't see any problems with that and I believe you shouldn't need one as your Aura is returning back to full strength. Why don't you try now?" Church suggested.

Ruby nodded her head in return, and being careful as to not wake up Neo as she moved across to the side of the bed, using her hands to swing herself around to sit on the edge.

Slowly Ruby moved forward until her feet touched the ground, feeling the courage to go further she put more pressure onto her feet but as she was pushing off the bed to stand on her own she collapsed straight down onto the floor and if only for her fast reflexes she stopped her face from hitting the ground.

"I…I…I can't feel my legs." Ruby exclaimed, surprised as she attempted to move her legs but she couldn't even feel them or more them.

"I can't feel my legs." Ruby repeated, crying out as she realised this.

This was what sparked Neo into waking up, just hearing Ruby crying made her wake up and immediately go to her side, hugging the woman.

"Nea I can't feel my legs. I can't move my legs." Ruby constantly cried out, crying into Neo's shoulder.

Church watched the scene between the breaking down Ruby and her wife, Neo offering her comfort over the fact she had lost any feeling to her legs. Respecting her privacy, she left the room, letting the two women have a moment alone.

Neo understood what this meant to Ruby, she knew that Ruby loved being independent, and the fact that her semblance had to do with her legs made it even worse for her. She knew exactly how important Ruby's semblance was to her, the ability to just run was something that Ruby loved.

She explained it before that she loved the feeling of the wind through her hair, against her face. The ability to see everything quickly, and now without the use of her legs it would break her.

When Ruby had calmed down enough, although still stifling and choking a little on her sobs but she managed to explain what happened during her time in between. Told her what the Goddesses had told her about her birth and life, and she explained what was to come but they couldn't work out how it would happen.

The doctor came in after Neo had gotten Ruby back onto the bed, her IV attached again as it had come loose when she had fallen onto the floor.

"Ok Ruby, I need to run a scan and a couple tests. Is that ok?" She asked gently.

"Of course." Neo answered for Ruby, who had fallen silent except for her breathing.

"Ok." Church said, running her scroll over Ruby's entire body once more, before she started testing Ruby's range of feeling along her body.

As she reached the waistline, Ruby couldn't feel anything below it even after Church had put a lot of pressure on it but Ruby couldn't feel anything at all.

"What's wrong?" Neo asked.

"Nothing's wrong. That's the problem. The scan shows no problems at all, by right everything should be fine and Ruby should be running around everywhere but for some reason she can't feel her legs. I honestly don't have an answer for you." Church said annoyed at no obvious cause.

"So what would you recommend we do?" Neo asked.

"I'll give her one more IV bag to get her nutrient levels up to normal levels and release her. She'll need to be in a wheelchair to move around and will need help in order to move. I highly recommend she avoids anything stressful for the moment and to see a physical therapist." Church informed the two.

"Thank you." Neo said to the doctor but turned to look at Ruby, "Yes…Ok than." She said, "Ruby would like to know if you would be able to do it instead of someone else." Neo asked.

"If that's what Ruby would prefer, it would save time in getting someone else in." Church stated.

"If you don't mind." Neo said.

"It'll be fine, how about I change that bag and I'll see you in two days for the first session?" Church said, smiling at the pair as she retrieved another IV bag to set it up.

Once Ruby had been given the second bag she was released back to her room, Neo wheeling her through the halls into the room but as soon as they returned she refused to see anyone, just sitting on her bed on her scroll constantly.

This went on for a week before the others were getting annoyed at Ruby's attitude, the first was Raven who actually bypassed Neo and the door entirely as she just teleported directly into the room.

"Hello Ruby, how are you doing?" Raven asked gently.

"Fine. I need you to find out what the White Fang are up to. Something big is coming and I need to find out how they're going to do it." Ruby said emotionlessly, not looking up from her scroll.

"Ok I'll do that, but first I want you to actually talk. You can't keep avoiding everyone and I know what's happened. So how are you really?" Raven asked, sitting on the bed next to Ruby's covered legs.

"I'm fine, tired but fine. I need to find out what's going on more than anything." Ruby said.

"What about your legs? I know you can't walk." Raven said.

"It doesn't matter. I'm learning how to walk again, it's slow and I can take a step but otherwise that's it." Ruby said remaining emotionless as she spoke.

Sighing as she knew she wouldn't get very far Raven just replied, "Ok than Little Rose, remember you can always talk to me if something's wrong or bothering you." Raven said as she stood up.

"I know auntie, thank you." Ruby replied back quietly, her voice soft.

Raven was the only one who really spoke to Ruby, as the others just spoke to Neo who said that she didn't want to see anyone, which eventually they respected that.

* * *

"I don't know what to do." Neo cried out, as she walked into Winter's room.

"What do you mean Neo?" Winter asked, although she could guess what she meant.

"About Ruby. She's just become detached, always focused on her scroll. I don't know how to help her." Neo cried out once more and Winter moved to hug the woman.

Neo didn't even notice Mizu was in the room sitting on the bed, watching the scene between her daughter and daughter in law.

"There's not a lot you can do without her wanting it to happen. All you can do is be there for her, she'll want to open up at some point we've just got to be patient." Winter replied back, holding the woman.

Neo started to slowly calm down while being directed to sit in the bed opposite Mizu who was waiting quietly.

"I'm sorry about Ruby's reaction to you when she first woke up. She…she was told about something and her only suspect is you." Neo told the older woman.

"What do you mean?" Mizu asked, worried when Neo called her a suspect.

"She discovered something about her birth. She found that she shouldn't have lived past birth, a stillbirth but she lived through it. But after the first year it was discovered she had an Aura disease, the first of its kind." Neo started to explain.

"She was told that it was artificial. Someone created her with this disease and the only person she could think of was you. But the way you've acted since we've met you suggests otherwise." Neo said.

"I would never do that. Maybe there was some error I made or something. I've got all my notes stored in paper form in a safe at my own flat. If I could get those notes and a sample of Ruby's blood maybe I can compare them and see what went wrong." Mizu started rattling off, thinking of everything that she had done.

"The doctors have a sample of her blood, they took it a little while ago but nothing ever happened with it. Maybe you can get them to release it to you." Neo said.

"I can try. I think I better get my real notes." Mizu said, standing up as she pulled Neo into a hug. "Be strong dear, Ruby can be stubborn but you can get through to her. It's a big change for both of you." Mizu whispered.

Leaving the room Mizu went to her own room while Winter and Neo were left inside.

"Why don't we go see my sister? I'm sure she'll want some company." Winter said, smiling as she took Neo's hand and led her out of the room.

Going out of the room they headed too Ruby and Neo's shared room, as they were walking they talked about the festival with Winter telling her that she would be joining WBY as part of the team for the festival and didn't mention anything about Ruby or Neo's plans.

Entering the room, they saw the bed made with no Ruby inside, nor her wheelchair anywhere in the room and upon searching the room more found Ruby's clothes and weapons all missing alongside the woman herself.

"Where is she?" Neo exclaimed loudly, worried over where Ruby had gone.

"She's gone with Naomi, Dr Church and another woman and a team of Atlas special forces to Patch." Aria informed them.

 **A/N**

 **So I think I'm going on a bi-weekly basics on updating this, because I need the time to work on another story that comes after this.**

 **I've got a couple ideas of stuff I want to do but I'm jumping all over the place currently I'm considering doing a zombie style story featuring a couple characters from Ruby but I'm not sure how exactly I would do that. Another idea is a Warhammer 40K story featuring the cast of RWBY in my own made up Legion, the lost or forgotten Second Legion. That's currently my two ideas to work on after my current one but I'm so up in the air about it.**

 **Oh and also there's a couple smut things I want to maybe write for Trust which I'm going to use as somewhere I can post smut ideas as my original plan with that story won't happen now.**

 **Anyway, thank you for reading this and please review. Oh and any quotes you'd like to post in the reviews would be greatly appreciated as I want to continue putting quotes at the start of chapters.**


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27-**

 _"She's gone with Naomi, Dr Church and another woman and a team of Atlas special forces to Patch." Aria informed them._

"Why has she gone there?" Winter asked.

"Because she was told that there was a present left for her and Naomi had the coordinates of something left for her. She went to find out what it was." Aria informed the pair.

"Where is she now?" Neo asked.

"Patch, going past Signal Academy and about five minutes away from the location." Aria told her mother.

"I'm going to the docks." Neo stated, leaving the room with Winter and Aria close behind.

* * *

"Alright almost to the coordinates. Remember the plan?" Naomi called out, looking back to see Ruby in her wheelchair near one of the side doors.

"Got it Naomi, we get on the ground and you guide us to the coordinates." A woman said, she had bright green eyes and her brown hair tied into a bun with freckles over her cheeks. Her British accent evident in her voice. (Yeah I know, no such thing as British in RWBY. Sue me.)

"Ruby, care to tell Evie and her team about the area?" Naomi asked.

"There are several Grimm nests near the area, so you can't be on the ground too long in case they see you." Ruby told them.

"Got it, we'll be quick. Doc, you good?" The woman, Evie asked.

"I'll be fine. Remember Ruby, stay in the chair. While you've been improving you're still not back to your old strength with your legs." Doctor Church stated.

Ruby just nodded her head as she rolled herself to the side door as Evie helped to secure her so she wouldn't fall out.

"Thank you. For all of this." Ruby whispered to the woman.

"Anything for a friend of Naomi, plus I'm a fan of your work." The woman replied, smiling at her.

Upon meeting the woman Ruby had already looked her over, she had a cane weapon similar to Neo's but hers had another blade at the bottom as well. On her wrists she had two gauntlets which had hidden blades, and a rope launcher with a hook on the end. Like Ruby she also carried throwing knives, and had a skill that rivalled Ruby with the weapons and she carried a revolver pistol as well.

She had a tight outfit that fit her form well but different mixture of tops, corset, and a jacket with a hood and a cloak. Also a skirt but she wore trousers with them and boots. All in a dark blue and red colour scheme.

"When we get back, how about I set you up with some stuff?" She offered.

"That would be great, thank you. I'd love to see more of those gauntlets. Maybe I can help you with your throwing knives as well." Ruby said.

"It's a deal. Now to the important part." Evie said, smiling at the younger woman before walking to the two other members of her team.

"Alright, remember the drill. We get out and Naomi directs us to the point. Diamond formation to protect the doc and keep an ear out for Grimm." Evie ordered as she grabbed a SMG.

Her team consisted of two other women, one of them having long red hair tied into a long ponytail, carrying a weapon that seemed to melt through anything. Her armour itself was white with a jet pack on the back.

The third woman seemed to be faceless as the helmet she wore hid her face and the black armour hid most things but the rifle in her hands told a lot to Ruby. The woman was quiet and seemed to keep to herself throughout the entire journey.

It was surprising to Ruby that this was an elite team of the Atlas military as Naomi introduced Evie as a General, the second in command of the entire military presence from Atlas in Vale. Although this itself wasn't well known, especially her rank.

"Alright, coming in now." Naomi called out as she came in low and opened the back ramp, allowing the four women out immediately before going back up above them with the back ramp closing and side door opening, allowing Ruby to look out.

Ruby brought Crescent Rose in its sniper form to her shoulder while she kept watch above the ground team.

"Alright, you're about fifty metres away. Head north until I say stop." Naomi said over the radio.

"Stop. Go east for about ten metres. Ok you're almost on top of it you should see something." Naomi stated.

"Lots of snow, wait. Doc, what do you see?" Evie said. "Oh shit we've got blood here. Wait out." Evie said.

* * *

"I see some Beowolves in the trees to the west, they're moving around the edge. No clear shot." Ruby stated without emotion as she tried to line up a shot.

"Adjusting position. Ground team advise." Naomi called out, moving the aircraft around to give Ruby a clear shot.

"We've found something. Not a lot, just some paper and a bloodied cloak. Doc's got some samples of the blood and we've got the paper and cloak. Moving to extract. What's the status of the Grimm?" Evie asked.

The answer to her question was a booming shot from Ruby's sniper, hitting a Beowolf in the skull. "Keep me west facing and pick them up." Ruby ordered, having quickly chambered a new round and firing again in barely a second.

Ruby kept up a steady stream of fire as she adjusted for the movement of the Bullhead but as they got closer to the ground they seemed to get braver as they started to charge out of the treeline.

"Fighting retreat!" Evie shouted out, crouching down to fire at the advancing Grimm.

The other two team members also took a knee while the doctor rushed towards the aircraft, not being a fighter herself but rather a doctor.

With the three women leapfrogging each other, two of them providing cover fire while the last one ran back a few metres before taking another knee to cover the next one.

Ruby kept up her steady fire power from her sniper, changing magazines multiply times but the three soldiers all got inside alongside the doctor without injury and as the lead Beowolf reached the aircraft landing spot, they were already in the air.

The doors all closed and Ruby detached herself from the ropes securing her wheelchair so she didn't fall out the side of the aircraft.

Rolling herself back towards the others, she saw Church holding something in her hands but as Ruby approached she attempted to hide it from Ruby.

"What did you find?" Ruby asked.

Church's eyes darted towards the cockpit but as she couldn't see Naomi, who was concentrating on flying so she looked towards Evie trying to work out what to do.

"Allison. What did you find?" Ruby asked, using the doctor's given name.

"How did you know that name?" The woman was surprised Ruby knew her given name.

"Background check. I did it after the first day I met you. I already knew some of your history and I learnt your given name through it." Ruby stated, "Now what did you find?" She asked more firmly.

Reluctantly Allison handed over the items they had found. The main item was a pure white cloak, Ruby took the cloak carefully, almost afraid that it would shatter as she touched it. The hood part had some dried blood on it but Ruby knew exactly whose cloak it was.

Next she took a piece of torn paper from Allison, which only had her mother's name, Summer Rose written on the top and a kill/capture order on it but the person who ordered it was torn off with only an S at the top of the paper being visible.

The last thing that Allison had was hidden behind her back, not wanting to show Ruby and she looked towards Evie again for help.

"She deserves to know. Show her." Evie replied.

Once more Allison was reluctant to show Ruby and it became clear why as she showed Ruby a severed wolf ear, they were similar to Ruby's own wolf ears that were flattened against her head but instead of a red tip these had a white tip.

Ruby didn't even touch the ear as she, without conscious thought pushed with her legs back until she hit the wall, but this didn't stop her as she tried to get away from it even further going to the point that she fell from her chair and crawled backwards along the floor to get away.

"No…no…it can't be true…there's no way." Ruby mumbled to herself as she backed away from the evidence that her mother was dead.

Allison quickly stored the ear in a small bag, before getting low onto the floor with open arms towards Ruby. "Ruby, it's alright." She tried to say comfortingly but it had no effect on the woman as she half crawled, half walked into the co-pilot seat and locking the door shut closed.

"Doc, let her go. You've just shown her evidence towards her mother really being dead." Evie said.

"But…" Allison tried to reply but failed as Evie cut her off with a look. "How do you know so much?" Allison than asked, knowing that Ruby never opened up to her at all.

"Naomi told me about her concerns over Ruby, especially about her hope that Ruby had that her mother was still alive. And well we've just given her evidence that suggests her mother could be dead, it's anything short of a body." Evie stated, checking over her weapons.

"What do we do?" Allison asked, unsure how she could help Ruby.

"Nothing. Ruby has her own coping mechanisms. We've just got to be patient." Evie stated.

* * *

It didn't take long to get back to the school and the dock and Ruby was the first out of the aircraft and practically vanished.

They all started to walk down and saw Neo approaching them but none of them were able to speak as Naomi intercepted her first and after a brief few words Neo had teleported away, presumably to Ruby.

Neo was rushing through the school, and all the spots she knew Ruby would go to when she wanted to be alone or just vanish but then she realised she had been thinking about it wrong.

Stopping her random teleporting she chose a different tactic, she knew Ruby didn't want to be alone but she also didn't want to be seen by anyone at the same time.

She had a couple options here, there was the cafeteria which was busy throughout the day but then at the same time Ruby also fought to get out her emotions.

"Aria check if Glynda has a class running, or any combat class on today." Neo asked as she ran towards the combat halls.

"No classes are running but some students are training in the hall and private rooms. Also some reports of a training room being active but no one inside." Aria informed her.

"Thank you Aria, shutdown that room for me, please." Neo asked as she teleported away.

She saw the crowd gathering around the monitor displaying what was going on inside one of the training rooms. Neo spotted Ruby's obvious red cloak on the monitor and her dancing around the androids she was fighting against, however she stumbled at points as she wasn't used to walking on her legs for so long.

Neo was about to shout at them all to get out of the way and leave the area but someone else beat her to it.

"I'm pretty sure you all have something better to do than stare at a student training." Glynda Goodwitch shouted to the gathered students, "If you find yourself having nothing to do I'm sure I can arrange for you to have work to do." She stated, which quickly and easily dispersed the students watching Ruby.

"Thank you." Neo said.

"Just get in there before she destroys my training rooms." Glynda said, but her voice was gentle and soft.

Neo nodded in return as she opened the door and quietly entered the room. She simply watched Ruby fight, her normally beautiful dance she did while fighting was now sluggish and each move seemed like she had heavy weights tied to her.

She would stumble and fall over a lot, but would quickly return to her feet to carry on attacking it even though she'd fall down again.

Neo deactivated the fighting when she saw Ruby start to flag and grow weaker, so she shut it down and went to Ruby, "You know, last time I was the one exhausted and could barely stand, I kept going as well. But I remember someone stepping in to stop me from going too far." Neo said softly, hugging Ruby while at the same time bringing her to sit in her lap.

"I…wonder…who…that…was." Ruby said, breathless.

"Well she is a beautiful woman who defies all odds, even death. She is a strong and powerful woman, who is the best fighter I've ever seen. But she is also someone extremely bad at sharing her own feelings." Neo said softly.

Ruby remained silent, catching her breath instead of talking with Neo but also thinking over her words.

"Naomi told me what was found. Do you want to talk about it?" Neo asked.

"Could we go back to our room?" Ruby asked in reply.

 **A/N**

 **So another chapter down, a little earlier this time because I wanted to post it. Anyway I've been busy writing out one story which is going quite well, though I'm just doing a time skip and learning about pregnancy lol.**

 **Had a fun week this week as I went to A &E for myself for the first time ever. Managed to catch my finger on a beer cellar outdoor unit, not fun at all though I freaked out my GP by showing them my finger lol. Anyway nothing major just some steri strips or butterfly stiches. **

**Not much else I can think of at the moment, I might go weekly depending how it goes with my other story which will be called Not Alone. Unrelated note, but after that story I'm up in the air on what to write as I'm jumping around a fair bit. Suggestions are welcome for ideas, anyway until next time.**


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28-**

 _"Could we go back to our room?" Ruby asked in reply._

Neo nodded her head in response as she held her and teleported themselves back to their room, sitting on the bed.

"Her cloak was bloodied and we found her ear." Ruby whispered to Neo after they had relaxed on the bed.

"She could still be alive; it doesn't prove that she's dead." Neo replied just as softly.

"We found a kill order with her name on it, it means she must be dead. It's only more proof that she is." Ruby cried out, tears falling down her face.

"Sweetie, its fine. Tell me what they told you as you were crossing." Neo asked, so Ruby told her what Maya and Atropos had said to her, everything which she could remember.

"If Atropos sent you back, why would she call this a present? Why wouldn't she just show the body?" Neo questioned, which Ruby didn't have the answer.

"The note was torn wasn't it?" Neo asked.

"It was. I couldn't see who ordered it except the letter S." Ruby answered.

"Could it have been a kill or capture order perhaps?" Neo asked.

"Maybe. But I saw her get stabbed." Ruby said, tears running down her face as she remembered.

"People have survived stab wounds before, maybe they captured her instead of killing her. Maybe that's why there were those things." Neo suggested.

"I don't know." Ruby replied honestly, just closing her eyes and burying her head into Neo's neck.

Whispering comforting words to Ruby, eventually the tired woman fell asleep in her arms while Neo remained wide awake, lost in thought.

* * *

Over the next few weeks leading up to the festival and the resulting fighting tournament that came with the festival. Ruby had been constantly going to physio for her legs, slowly building them up but she couldn't use her scythe to the same standard as before.

So instead she chose to focus on her other weapons as they planned to enter the tournament together. However, the major change that everyone was able to notice was Ruby's red cape was no longer on her shoulders but instead on Neo's.

Instead she wore her mother's white cloak instead, wearing it proudly once the hood was clear of blood and she kept the hood up constantly and the cloak wrapped tightly around her body.

More than once Mizu had to do a double take whenever she saw Ruby dressed like that as she reminded her so much of Summer.

Eventually the tournament came around with Ruby only training or at physio for her legs. Mizu was still working hard to discover what had gone wrong in Ruby's blood in an attempt to find out how it all happened.

Winter and the rest of WBY alongside all the other students who were training up for the tournament as their teams of four. But Ruby and Neo had obtained special permission, or rather had something special that allowed them to compete with only two of them.

During this time Ruby had spent time speaking with Evie and Naomi, learning that both served together before going on separate paths.

Evie went into stealth and intelligence gathering while Naomi went into aviation and combat flying, each going to separate Kingdoms, or at least that's what they said but Ruby suspected something else.

The weapons on Evie's wrists were of keen interest from Ruby and the woman allowed her to have two of her own, which she dismantled and put back together while improving them slightly at the same time with a stronger and lighter blade, and quicker reaction time with them.

In return Ruby had helped Evie with her throwing knives, giving her the same type that she used which were lighter and sharper, making them more deadly.

This was only one weapon that Ruby trained with, choosing instead to use her throwing knives as well because she wasn't too mobile but she was able to throw just as fast as before.

As the tournament came around Ruby saw that they were fighting the opening match against a team called NDGO. They were an all-female team from Shade Academy.

"Hello! It seems we have another astonishing bout ahead of us! Wouldn't you agree, Professor?" Port said into the microphone.

"Doctor. And yes Peter, I think it's safe to say this may be rather on sided one we've seen so far." Oobleck explained.

"For those of you just now joining us, welcome to the Vytal Festival Tournament, broadcast live from the Amity Colosseum." Port stated. "If this is your first time watching, allow us to break down the rules." Port said.

"The tournament is divided into three distinctive rounds; teams, doubles and singles. Age and school year are irrelevant! In this tournament, your only attribute being tested is skill." Oobleck explained.

"The winners of this battle will elect two of their members to represent them in the doubles round, followed by the winners of that round choosing one member to advance one again. The remaining combatants will then fight their way through the final bracket in hope of achieving victory for their kingdom!" Port finished explaining.

"And yes, Peter, these certainly are some spectacular bouts which to spectate on! I don't think anyone tuning in around the world is going to disagree with me on that!" Oobleck stated.

"Ah, and why wouldn't they? This duo will be the team to watch." Port told them all.

"Ah yes, now let's get to the match between team NDGO of Shade Academy from Vacuo and RN of Beacon Academy right here in Vale." Oobleck finished off.

Ruby and Neo stood opposite NDGO, waiting to see what the arena would be. The two women who suddenly transformed into a team of four, with three Neo's.

Neo was dressed in her normal outfit while Ruby had her headphones on hiding her ears, but otherwise kept her normal outfit with the leather jacket over the top.

All four of them bowed to their opponents with Neo saying, "Good luck."

"You too." The leader of NDGO, Nebula replied to them.

As the holographic roulette changed to show a sun Nebula let out a laugh saying, "Alright! Home field advantage."

Ruby and Neo remained silent as the other side changed into the sea with a pirate ship wreck comes up.

"3, 2, 1, BEGIN!" Oobleck called out.

Neo immediately changed towards the other team with her two clones coming with her, flipping over the back of them and running towards the sand area with two of them following close behind in chase.

While the other two, Nebula and Octavia remained facing Ruby. As said woman just remained standing there in front of them, not moving at all.

"Um, hello? Are you there?" Octavia asked, confused as to why the woman wasn't moving.

* * *

Up in the stands Winter and WBY alongside Mizu were all watching the fight with interest but all of them were confused as to why Ruby wasn't moving.

"Hello everyone." Aria said, appearing in a seat between Mizu and Winter.

"Hello Aria, how are you?" Mizu asked, not shocked at the AI's appearance.

"I am good thank you. Are you enjoying the match?" Aria asked.

"Well it's only just started. But Neo seems to be playing with them." Weiss pointed out, as Neo was jumping and dodging attacks from the two other members of NDGO with her clones.

"She is. It's rather fun to watch my mother's dance around them all." Aria said.

"But Ruby isn't moving, how is she dancing around them?" Yang asked.

"Oh. You can't see her?" Aria replied, surprised that they couldn't see her.

"Well we can all see her. She's just standing there though." Yang replied.

"But she isn't, is she Aria?" Blake asked, looking carefully at Ruby.

"You're right. Her semblance that you all know is her speed, but like Neo she has multiply. Look carefully, not at Ruby but instead at the two advancing on her." Aria said but the others failed to see it. "Just watch."

Nebula moved towards Ruby, deciding to just kick the unmoving girl out of the arena but as her foot made contact with Ruby's body she vanished into thousands of shattered pieces.

"What the?" Nebula exclaimed loudly but couldn't formulate a plan as her teammate, Octavia next to her was struck by an unseen foe as she flew out and hit the red zone.

"Your eyes deceive you. You do not see what is in front of you." Ruby said coldly behind Nebula as she threw her out of the arena as well.

"What the hell was that?" Yang asked, "She just appeared somewhere else."

"That's her other semblance. Shadow Step or Wraith Slip. She can move so fast that she slips out of time temporarily, I suppose it could be just the one semblance, just an advancement of hers. But combined with Neo's illusions than it means no one would ever realise what was happening." Aria stated.

With the fighting Neo was avoiding all the attacks being thrown at her by the last two opponents while Ruby seemed to appear behind them, wedging the two women between them.

While Gwen carried on throwing her knives towards Neo, Dew changed targets to try and stop Ruby but as she turned to face her she was met with a sword swinging towards her.

Raising her spear in time to parry the attack another one was quickly launched at her. Having been put on the defensive by the fast attacks she could only block them all and attempt to fight back but being so close made it hard.

During the attacks however Dew began to notice that some of them were sluggish and not having the amount of power that the way her opponent was moving would suggest they'd have.

As she came to this realisation the other woman smiled at her before jumping back and stopping her offensive.

Making her move Dew immediately went onto the offensive keeping a slight distance as her weapon prefers but making sure that Ruby wouldn't get close enough to attack again. But no matter how close she got it wouldn't matter as Ruby would just dodge the attack or block it.

Neo on the other hand was having fun with a wide smile as she dodged the knives being thrown at her before deciding that she had enough fun.

Drawing her own sword from her parasol she launched herself down, punching Gwen's shoulder to throw her off balance before slashing at her with her sword. The strike immediately taking her into the red zone of her aura and knocking her out of the competition.

Changing their final tactic Ruby and Neo both ended their fights in a series of strikes that knocked their opponents down in Aura until finally they were in the red.

"And that's it. The Miss Roses have won the match." Port called out.

"While not very surprising the fight went on much longer than some people guessed it would. And it seems Miss Ruby has displayed a new ability that we have not yet seen before." Oobleck carried on.

Ruby and Neo bowed to their opponents once more before leaving the Arena as they were interested to see the next match, who would be WWBY fighting against ABRN from Haven Academy.

The pair sat in the stands, with Neo sitting next to Mizu while Ruby was sitting on the other side of Neo as she avoided speaking with the woman.

The three of them watched the match, which went on much longer than the first match. During it however Winter displayed more of her abilities, like her duel swords and glyphs which were able to work in tandem with her sisters but it was clear that she had more practise with them.

After the match was over, Ruby had sent Aria over to ask winter to speak to them when she got a moment free to do so as the pair silently decided on a course of action.

"Mizu would you mind coming to our room as well please?" Neo asked kindly, to which Mizu readily accepted.

 **A/N**

 **So I'm sorry that I've been rather slack with updating this story so my apologies once more. I've finished my next story after this, Not Alone and then I'm unsure.**

 **I'm flicking between two stories, a Mass Effect crossover with RWBY or rather the ME story with some RWBY characters but I'm not sure but it's something I've always wanted to do.**

 **Other one is a vastly different take on the RWBY story and everything but I'm not really sure about it but found that I enjoy writing or rather reading some of it but it's all up in the air.**

 **Anyway I'll be posting another chapter soon so I hope you enjoyed.**


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29-**

" _Mizu would you mind coming to our room as well please?" Neo asked kindly, to which Mizu readily accepted._

When they got there however, with a shared look passed between them Neo left the room leaving mother and daughter alone for the first time since Ruby woke up.

Mizu stood awkwardly next to Ruby, unsure what she could say or really do when she knew Ruby must hate her.

"I'm sorry." Ruby said quietly. "I'm sorry for how I treated you when I woke up, I learnt something while I was…in between. And well I could only think it was your fault. Neo explained to me what you two spoke about afterwards, and for that I'm sorry. It's all just so much to take in. Dying…it was something I always expected to happen but to die, than be told that someone had been trying to kill me since the womb was something I never expected, nor was it to come back." Ruby said, sounding surprisingly weak as she spoke.

"I take it you know what we found in Patch?" Ruby asked, not giving Mizu a chance to reply to that.

"I do. Neo told me, you found Summer's cloak and now wear it. I'm sure she wanted no one else but you to wear that." Mizu replied.

"Did…did she also tell you the other thing we found?" Ruby asked quietly, unsure how Mizu would take it.

"Yes…she did, are you sure it's hers?" Mizu asked, holding a small amount of hope that it wasn't.

"It's hers, there are no other wolf Faunus in existence anymore and I know her ears anywhere." Ruby replied.

"I see." Mizu said, holding back the tears.

"I believe she's still alive. I was sent there and told there would be a present, I think finding that was a sign to say she was still alive but I just don't know where." Ruby said.

"Maybe you're right. If you are, I'll stop at nothing in finding her." Mizu replied, determined.

"Neither will I." Ruby said, smiling at her.

"I wanted to say that I went back over my notes, and looked at your blood sample. Something's been changed somewhere; part of the DNA was changed with the disease added. I'd like a second sample to have a look now but somehow it's either been tampered with or something went wrong." Mizu explained as Neo and Winter entered the room.

"Tampered with would support what I've already been told. Who had access to this? Who even knew about it?" Ruby asked.

"Only I had access to it, and Summer knew about it alongside me." Mizu replied.

"We'll have to look into it more, but first we've got something important to discuss." Ruby said, gesturing for them all to sit down.

"We'd like to know when you, Winter, were planning on telling us you were an Atlas Specialist." Neo said bluntly once they were all sat down.

"What! How did you know that?" Winter exclaimed rather loudly, surprised at how they knew.

"We had Aria do some digging into you, discovered that you're listed under Atlas Military personnel but no job or position was listed. Admittedly it wasn't until we saw your fight earlier that we pieced it together. That fighting style and the reactions we've had all point towards it. Are we close?" Ruby asked, rather calmly.

Looking to her mother for help, Mizu just nodded her head for Winter to explain.

"I was an Atlas Specialist. I left just a little over a year ago because I didn't trust Ironwood, who seemed to have changed rather radically since I first knew him." Winter explained.

"We see, so you became one of the youngest specialists ever then?" Neo asked.

"Yes and No." Winter said, but as she looked over to Ruby she saw the woman no paying attention. "Um…" Winter said, confused while Ruby was staring off into the distance.

"This is amazing. Accelerated growth therapy. That explains why you became a specialist at an early age, it's because while you were technically a young age. Your body wasn't." Ruby said as she came back to present time.

"How did you find all that out?" Mizu asked, curious.

"I had Aria hack into the Schnee, or should I say my families? Files and records, it's buried in there but it's amazing. I suspected it was possible to accelerate the growth of a person but I didn't know it'd been done." Ruby said happily as she brought up her scroll to download the files onto.

"Aria can project the information directly onto her eyes and she can navigate like that, so please excuse her." Neo replied.

"Yes it's true Ruby, my father had my growth accelerated so in two years I was looking like an eighteen-year-old and started training in the military before becoming a specialist. Have been all my life except for the last year where I left, I realised my father only wanted me to become one was so he could have someone to scare and use as he so wished against other people." Winter explained.

"I see. So does this make you older than me? Or am I still the oldest?" Ruby asked playfully, getting away from the serious topic for a moment.

"Whatever he's done stopped my growth at eighteen, however when I actually turned eighteen years old it started again, so yes. You're still the oldest." Winter replied with a large smile.

"Oh good, means I can boss both you and Weiss around because I'm older." Ruby teased before going back to being serious. "But other than that fact now, there's a different reason we're meeting." Ruby said.

"We've been able to work out Cinder's plan, or at least a part of it. How soon would you be able to take over the Schnee Dust Cooperation?" Ruby asked.

"I'm not sure, I know I have some support among the board but with my husband there and the other board members it's hard to do it. We haven't got enough evidence to arrest him yet so we're not nearly ready." Mizu said.

"I'll have Aria help you attain files on them all to get them locked away, would you be able to point them all out?" Neo asked next.

"Of course, I know which ones support him and also advocate the Faunus slave labour, but we haven't got enough to arrest them though. They're extremely careful.

"As I said, don't worry about that. Would you be able to do it with them all out of the way?" Ruby asked again.

"Yes I could, but how are you going to get them out of the way? You're not going to kill them are you?" Mizu asked, shocked.

"No. The police trust me enough to point them at suspects, we'll be able to have the police arrest them all and hold them until we get the evidence needed." Ruby explained.

"But that's not all. He has the Atlas Military, namely Ironwood in his back pocket. We attack him and arrest them all then they will swoop in and claim him as their own prisoner. The council gave him authority over security in Vale so he could do that." Winter explained.

"Don't worry about Ironwood, we have a way to handle him. But also with Hunters and Huntresses supporting the police there isn't anything he nor the council can do." Neo told them.

"How's that though? The military has the power now." Winter asked.

"Maybe in Atlas, but in Vale all military forces. Foreign or domestic are second to the Hunter lodges. They have absolute authority and final word in the defence and any matter in terms of defending against any threat. So it would be illegal for them to do anything, and the council is held the same as this law goes back to the dawn of the Kingdoms." Ruby explained, having seen the other Kingdoms she made sure to understand the different laws.

"Anyway, we've got a plan so their attention is focused elsewhere." Neo said with a smile.

"So what's Cinder's plan then? You said you'd worked it out." Mizu asked.

"We've known what the virus was since she planted it, it'll disable all communications across Vale meaning that they'd be unable to call for help. We believe she plans to attack during this time and by the time communications get back up then the Kingdom would be in what looks like a civil war. However, as it'd be a civil war no other Kingdom would be allowed to help." Neo began to explain.

"We think it's coming soon because of the tournament. It'd be the perfect time to do something like this." Ruby said, however leaving out something else.

"There's more isn't there?" Winter asked, "You think you know how they're going to do it don't you?" Winter asked.

"Yes we do. We believe that they plan to drop the Amity Colosseum onto Vale. Using the mass causalities and confusion to attack Vale itself. So while everyone is running around helping those caught in the collapse, they'd sweep in and take over." Ruby informed them emotionlessly.

"How long have you known this?" Mizu asked immediately.

"About a month. We've been coming up with likely plans and we both agree this is the most likely one as we also believe she is getting help from someone else." Neo stated.

"Help from someone else?" Winter asked.

"The Paladin's aren't even on the market yet, only experimental prototypes in use by the Atlas military for purposes of testing." Ruby stated as if reading it straight from a file.

"This is why we want to take over the SDC sooner than planned, if we can gain wider support from the Faunus and show them it's getting better, more of them could doubt their cause. And if we show it was a Faunus' doing who supports Mizu and the Schnee women, then maybe we can get enough to doubt their cause to either turn or at least doubt long enough for us to capture them." Ruby informed them both.

"That could work, when do you want to do it?" Mizu asked, understanding their plans and ideas.

"Sooner rather than later, I can speak to the police and Ozpin today and have enough ready for the weekend, we also need to get our distraction into place." Ruby replied.

"What is this distraction going to be?" Winter asked, "You haven't told us yet."

Ruby and Neo both shared a look between each other while they silently spoke to each other over whether or not to tell them.

"We have asked Junior for help; our plan is to plant some bombs in the Colosseum in key locations that wouldn't hurt anyone but would also be enough that the tournament has to be put on hold. Junior and some of his men we spoke to have all agreed to do this for us. We've given them the spots and all they're waiting for is the order." Ruby stated.

Both women were shocked immediately but as they looked at the girl's calm demeanour it gave them some comfort but still had their doubts. "How do you know it'll work? They could mess up." Mizu asked.

"They won't, I've made it clear they can't mess up and they're all willing to be arrested for the cause. However, we've also promised them that no evidence would link them to it so they'd be quickly released. The plan is to also have Hunters and Huntresses help people evacuate but also be the ones who find the bombers gaining them further support and trust." Neo explained.

"You've got this all thought out, haven't you? Every question has an answer." Winter said with a smile.

"We have. We've done too much for this for it all to go wrong." Ruby stated.

"Alright, we're in. There's a full board meeting at the headquarters on the border to Vacuo, on the Vale side this weekend, starts on Saturday morning and with a few breaks but lasts all day." Mizu told them.

"We'll hit them early morning. What can we expect with guards?" Ruby said.

"Not very well trained, except for those that protect my husband who are highly trained and do a lot of dirty work for him. I can convince most of the guards to surrender but these ones won't." Mizu stated.

"Alright, we'll eliminate anyone in our way. We've got time to draw up better plans if you can give us the information on the facility itself as well. Also media. If we're going to capitalize on this as much as possible we need them to see." Ruby stated.

"RNN, I trust them and they're good at finding out things about the SDC. They're trusted by people, we can give them a heads up beforehand about something happening and they'll be there." Mizu replied.

"Alright, let's all meet here Friday night to plan everything out more clearly. Police will follow in behind us, we'll all be going in first. Are you ok with that?" Ruby asked.

Receiving nods from both women they all left to go about their respective paths while Ruby and Neo started to get everything into motion.

Speaking to Ozpin and explaining what was going on was the easy part, although Glynda didn't like the idea of the bombs, but with complete assurance that no one would be hurt eased her worries a little, not much but enough.

Speaking to a detective with the VPD was simple, as Ruby had contact with one in there. A high ranking detective called Burns. Getting him on board was the easiest as he'd been wanting to take the SDC down for years but had no evidence. But trusting Ruby or the Red Reapers word that they'd have all the evidence they would need was enough for him to get a rather large task force ready and with Naomi's unit providing transport for all the officers the logistics was easy.

Planning the raid with the layouts was harder as there were a number of different corridors leading to all different parts of the building so they realised they needed more people to clear it.

Getting both Qrow and Raven on board was simple once they told them the plan and with their support they had enough to take it down, although the offer from Ozpin for more Hunters/Huntresses was there.

Ruby took him up on the offer, getting teams JNPR and CFVY in on the plan and going in with the police officers just behind the main six of them so they could learn a little more about the goings on in the world and missions they might undertake. At least that was Ruby's line about it all.

Now the morning came, early in the morning at six in the morning they board their Bullheads. Ruby, dressed in her full Reaper outfit including the Red cloak and now with holes in the hood for her ears to show through proudly. Next to her was Neo, but instead of her normal outfit she had completely changed it all out.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **So i seriously need to be kicked up the ass each week to actually update this and not be lazy and play BF1 all the time or just read or write something else. So sorry in advance.**

 **We're finally getting towards the endgame of the story now and working towards that. There isn't too much more to go. Just over ten thousand words so i would say at a maximum five more chapters but at least three. Might make it five to end on a nice number but not sure as of yet.**

 **After this I've got my finished pregnancy story called Not Alone but for the moment I'm working on something truly special, at least for me.**

 **Currently I'm working on a Mass Effect story which crosses over with RWBY with some characters but the core story is still there and the events will change only slightly and some bits will be much more special.**

 **I'm at around fifteen thousand words and not even gotten the Normandy yet but about to. This will take me a long time to write because i will go through all three games and side missions and stuff i deem to fit the story well. I can tell you now some of it though.**

 _ **You have Commander Ruby Rose who has survived her homeworld being attacked by slavers where her family is killed, Yang, Tai and Raven. She is rescued by her Uncle Qrow who was a Lieutenant in the Alliance at the time and she stayed on Earth for two years, meeting Neopolitan Gelato who became her closest friend (maybe something more) they joined the Alliance together and soon joined the N7 programme. As they were getting qualified as N7 though they lost their entire squad to a Thresar Maw on Akuze.**_

 _ **A few years later while on shore leave after becoming N7's and doing a series of missions they took shore leave on Elysium instead of Thessia. It was rather fortunate that a large slavers fleet attacked the planet and Commander's Rose and Gelato were able to save a large number of civilians and protect them from the attackers though they suffered a large number of injuries during the fighting.**_

 _ **Afterwards, having recovered from her injuries first Commander Rose led an operation on Tofan against Batarian slavers in retribution for Elysium however they suffered ninety five percent causalities on the mission, it was not clear however how this had happened as Commander Rose had a reputation for keeping as many soldiers under her commander as possible.**_

 _ **Now we find our two Commander's being joint XO's aboard the new stealth frigate SSV Normandy under command of Ruby's uncle, Captain Qrow. But during a mission to retrieve a Prothean Beacon on Eden Prime, and while Commander Rose is on evaluation to join the Spectre's the mission takes a turn for the worse.**_

 **This is the basics of what the background of the main characters are and where the story sits however these events will be fleshed out in the story alongside more that will happen. I hope people will enjoy this story as it's been something I've wanted to write for years, a Mass Effect story but never found anything that worked for me until now.**

 **Sorry for the rather long A/N but i'm excited about this and hope others are as well. Anyway, until next time. Thank you.**


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30-**

 _Now the morning came, early in the morning at six in the morning they board their Bullheads. Ruby, dressed in her full Reaper outfit including the Red cloak and now with holes in the hood for her ears to show through proudly. Next to her was Neo, but instead of her normal outfit she had completely changed it all out._

She had tied her hair into twin tail hairstyle, with black hair and a lighter streak where the white was originally and held with white bows while her bangs remained the same. Her eyes were now pure green instead of the changing colours.

She wore a sleeveless black blouse with white frills on the chest and collar with a black ribbon bow hanging from the front of the collar. The blouse itself exposed her midriff and she had medium-length black armbands on both of her wrists. She had a knee length skirt held on by a white belt and black shoes with a triple tomoe emblem on the soles.

The others inside, Winter, Weiss and Mizu wore their normal outfits while Mizu had donned on Summer's cloak, with Ruby's blessing to do it.

Raven had ditched her White Fang mask but kept the rest the same, alongside Qrow who still had his standard outfit although he kept his flask on him though he hadn't drunk any of the alcohol inside. Yet.

With them all inside, and armed. Even Mizu who had her own Rapier attached to her side. Naomi was inside the cockpit flying at the lead of the force mixed with Hunters and Huntresses in training and police forces. The twenty strong fleet of aircraft was moving at high speeds and close to the ground of Vale.

The highly trained pilots easily avoiding any obstacle in their way as they moved together as one, constant streams of chatter between the pilots, with small adjustments or checks.

"Detonate." Ruby said calmly over the radio, telling Juniors men to blow the bombs as they were getting closer to the headquarters.

Quickly afterwards they were starting to get reports of the explosions and mass evacuations of the Colosseum as planned, with all of the Atlas military being deployed.

"Light is green. Three minutes." Ruby said, her voice distorted by her mask.

"We hit the ground running. Disable only unless they strike to kill first. Qrow, Raven. You two are to split off once we get inside and secure the building. Regroup at the board room." Ruby ordered.

"Mizu, you. Winter and Weiss are to move ahead. Remember that you're meant to be there. We'll try and get as far as possible without violence." Ruby said.

With everyone agreeing and understanding the objectives they were ahead of the main force by a solid five minutes. Allowing them the time get to the board room first.

Landing just inside the perimeter thank to those they carried, and although hesitant to let those with Mizu in they couldn't do much against the woman.

Although Ruby used her semblance to hide herself from view of most people, going through the building they left Raven and Qrow by the entrance to await their signal to move while they walked through the building towards the board room.

However, as they got to the doors they were stopped by two armed guards dressed in Schnee family colours and the snowflake over their hearts.

"We can't allow you to pass ma'am." One of them said, standing in the way of the door.

"You will let me through. I must speak with my husband." Mizu said in her strongest voice.

"I'm sorry Ma'am, orders that you are not to be allowed entry." The guard said firmly.

Ruby, realising quickly that they'd get nowhere with the two guards she appeared and quickly disabled them through knocking them out.

"Come on." Ruby said, kicking open the doors with her scythe raised in its sniper mood.

"You are all under arrest for crimes against humanity. Surrender peacefully and one will get hurt." Ruby stated calmly, her weapon supported by the other three women behind her while Aria got everyone else to start securing the building.

"What is the meaning of this?" Willow Schnee boomed from his point at the head of the table.

"The meaning dear husband, is that I should have done this years ago. This company was never yours, but my misguided father believed only a man could run this. Now you're going to finally be brought to justice for all your crimes against Faunus." Mizu stated to the man.

He only laughed in response before replying, "You have no evidence, so how are you going to arrest me?" Willow stated.

"We have enough evidence." Ruby said with a deadly calm.

"You. Those ears." The man said, staring directly towards Ruby and those wolf ears sticking up.

It seemed to take a minute before the man realised, which in this time Raven and Qrow joined them to start detaining some of the board members.

"You're the daughter of that wolf whore. You should be long dead by now." Willow replied.

This seemed to send Ruby over the edge as she vanished from sight only to reappear in front of Willow, scythe extended and against his neck. "What are you talking about?" Ruby asked in a deathly tone.

The man laughed, not caring about the deadly weapon pressed against his neck. "It's funny that my wife thought I didn't know about her fling with that Faunus whore. And her plans with it. So I sabotaged the thing she created." The man stated.

"I am not a thing." Ruby growled out menacingly, making her scythe draw blood.

He only laughed in response once more before stating, "All Faunus are things. Not even human. If you're doing this to find that cunt. You'll never find her." The man stated harshly in reply and instead of questioning him more Ruby hit him with the flat side of her weapon knocking him out.

Neo quickly stepped in as Ruby dropped her weapon and was ready to start beating the man even further. With Neo, Mizu and Winter all holding her back while Qrow kept Raven back as she had heard what he said they managed to get both women calm again.

Once Ruby was released from the hold of the three women she immediately went back over to the unconscious Schnee male and slapped a pair of plastic handcuffs onto his hands, "We're taking him with us. The police can have everyone else." Ruby said coldly.

"Where are we going to take him?" Winter asked, unsure what to make of the sudden change of plans.

"I have several places to take him." Ruby stated, "Naomi. Lock in on my position and get here now." Ruby ordered as she went over to a window, breaking it open.

"What's your plan now Ruby? Huh? Take him somewhere no one else knows and do what? I want to know as much as you but we can't simply take him away somewhere and do what?" Mizu asked forcefully, stepping into Ruby's way.

"Whatever it takes. He was responsible for my death and he knows something about mom. I'm not letting him go." Ruby said, drawing her scythe to hold behind her back with it fully extended.

"And I want to know as much as you, but we have to do this the right way." Mizu reinforced into Ruby, trying to get her to see reason.

"You don't understand! None of you do. Do you know what it feels like expecting to die from something you've been born with and can't stop? Than to only find out that someone's been trying to kill you since before you were even in your mother's womb? And that your entire life is a lie! Believing your mother was dead by the hands of Faunus to only now discover someone else was the mastermind behind it?" Ruby shouted at all of them in the room. Growing increasingly angry.

"You're right, we don't but that doesn't mean you can just take him away with you and do inhumane things to him, no matter who he is." Mizu replied calmly but spoke with an authority they hadn't seen before, "Now why don't you go and free the Faunus kept in the mines below." Mizu ordered.

Ruby didn't say a word but turned to the window, leaving Willow at the feet of Mizu. Neo seeing this immediately spoke up and moved towards her, "I'll come with you." Neo said.

"I want to be alone." Ruby replied quietly before vanishing out of the window.

"Winter, Weiss go with her and help the workers. Get them outside and I'll organise food and water to be distributed amongst them." Mizu replied, her two daughters following their half-sister.

As the police moved inside to secure all the prisoners only a couple board members remained but went with the police to give evidence about the dealings happening inside.

Mizu was typing away some quick fire messages to get things organised when Neo spoke up in a small voice, from her seat around the large board room table.

"She's changed. She's so different now. Before we would talk to each other all the time about everything wrong, now I barely get a couple words out of her about anything bothering her. She's rarely in the room now, we never even sleep in the same bed anymore. I'm trying to help but she keeps pushing me away." Neo said, her voice small and weak sounding.

Mizu turned and went over to Neo, grabbing a hold of her hand. "I think I'm to blame for that. Before, with Summer. Well at first I was really bad at talking about anything wrong, especially to someone I trusted. I would try and push Summer away from me in response, to protect her from my problems as I didn't want to burden her with them." Mizu explained.

"But she's never been like that with me. We're both open and honest with each other, we share our problems so there are no secrets between us and we can deal with them together." Neo replied, not wanting to believe Mizu.

"She died. Whether it was for a few minutes or a few hours, she died nonetheless. We've all noticed that you're not the same. You're a little more reserve but you keep pushing on. Like Ruby, I don't think you've really taken a break have you? The reality of what happened hasn't sunk in." Mizu said, holding up her finger as Neo was going to interrupt.

"I'm not done. Ruby's perceptive, whether or not she uses that side of her semblance or not. She can still tell people's emotions. She knows that her dying has affected you badly, it just hasn't sunk in yet. Ruby knows this so she's trying not to cause you any more harm by distancing herself from you, but that's not what you need is it?" Mizu asked kindly.

"How did you know that?" Neo asked in surprise.

"Ruby's other semblance? That was easy, my glyphs are dormant but I was gifted with something else. I can suggest things to people to make them do certain things, it's how I was able to stop my husband…ex-husbands more extreme methods. And I know this about you and Ruby because Summer explained to me how she felt when I pushed her away a great many times. In the end she got fed up and confronted me, rather explosively. We sorted it out and well, I won't forget that night for a long time." Mizu said teasingly, winking at Neo as she finished her sentence.

Neo only blushed in response, looking away from Mizu and out towards the window where she could hear fighting faintly in the distance.

 **A/N**

 **So I'm updating for a slightly selfish reason, I'm trying to hunt down a story but I can't remember whether I saved it or not but I fancy reading it again.**

 **It's a Once Upon a Time story but basically Regina's father is still alive and is a doctor, has his own clinic as well. Emma goes there for treatment on evenings or something to avoid it being reported or something, can't exactly remember. If anyone has any ideas it would be great because I can't search through loads of new stories, though I will.**


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter-31**

Winter and Weiss moved into the mines itself, freeing the chained up Faunus where they could and getting them to head outside. They came across some of the guards who had all been knocked out, rather brutally from the stories the Faunus told them.

Hearing a pained scream ring out through the mines, both women sprinted further into the mine where they came to a large opening with the walls surrounded by chained up Faunus, all looking towards the fight in the middle.

They saw Ruby standing in the middle of almost twenty guards, all of whom were cruel people who hated Faunus who had no problem forcing them to work to the death.

A few of them even had whips while others had cattle prods, but Ruby all but ignored them. Scythe deployed it was a standoff as the guards all surrounded her.

Ruby nor Aria spoke, no offer of the chance to surrender as was the norm but instead Ruby just buried her scythe into the ground and charged towards them.

The guards thought they were ready but as they tried to attack Ruby she only dodged out of the way of the strikes to land her own back at them.

The twenty guards didn't stand a chance as Ruby brutally punched and kicked them, bloodying their faces up as she hit them with more strikes than she needed to.

Each time they tried to shock her with the cattle prods she just ripped them out of their hands just to hit them with the horrible tool, but she wouldn't do it once but multiple times.

As the last guard, the head guard for the mines was the last one still standing while all the others were on the ground unconscious and bleeding.

He threw out his arm, as he attempted to catch Ruby with his whip but Ruby all but ignored it as she caught the tool in her hand.

Yanking sharply on it she pulled the man towards her through the air, punching him in the face to knock him onto the ground.

What happened next surprised everyone, Ruby moved to straddle the man and was about to start punching him but instead a series of black and red rapiers all appeared in the air surrounding Ruby, blades pointed at the ground and towards the man on the ground.

Black snowflake glyphs were all behind the rapiers but neither Winter nor Weiss knew where they had come from as neither of them could summon anything and even then, it would only be in blue.

Winter shot forward as soon as she spotted Ruby's intention, quickly pulling her back while at the same time delivering a kick to the downed man's head to knock him out.

"Ruby calm down. Look at what you're doing." Winter said, pointing out the rapiers in the air around Ruby.

"What the? Where the hell did these come from?" Ruby exclaimed loudly, confused at where they came from.

"Think of them vanishing." Winter stated, guiding Ruby.

Ruby did as instructed, imagining the swords vanishing from existence and seconds later they did. Though they did appear again briefly as it seemed Ruby thought about killing the man.

"Well, you really are a Schnee after all." Weiss stated, trying to make light of the situation.

Standing back up Ruby looked at her hands for a moment before she vanished in a flash of rose petals, leaving the two sisters alone.

Looking at each other they shared a confused look before they went about freeing the Faunus in the mines.

* * *

Neo was with Mizu watching as all of the Faunus were led outside and the police went about helping them with food and water while doctors were going amongst them all to check them over.

Suddenly a red blur was seen flashing past and Neo was knocked over by the blur, she didn't notice all the eyes on her. Or the fact that all the Faunus were staring at the reaper just hugging this black haired woman.

Neo looked up towards Mizu, unsure what to make of this but saw the older woman was smiling softly at the pair before speaking up. "Red, I think you should go somewhere private for the minute." Mizu stated. Noticing the spectacular around them.

It didn't take long for Ruby and Neo to hear this and quickly ran with Neo in her arms back to their aircraft and upon entering, Naomi noticed the sudden entrance and decided it best to leave them along for a minute.

"Ruby?" Neo asked softly, just feeling Ruby hug her tightly.

"I'm sorry." Ruby said softly.

"There's nothing to be sorry for." Neo replied, her voice softening and smiling lightly at Ruby.

"There is…I've been distant. Since I came back, I just…I couldn't handle it. I was dead, ready to move on only to be thrown back into life and to find out that my mother could very well be alive…I just don't know what I'm doing." Ruby said, baring her soul to Neo.

"Well, I'm sure we can figure it all out. We normally just wing it." Neo said, smirking towards Ruby who laughed in response.

"You're right. As long as we're together, we'll overcome anything." Ruby responded on a soft smile, hugging Neo as she buried her face into Neo's neck.

"What's wrong?" Neo asked, shivering as she felt Ruby's warm breath on her neck.

"Can we go home?" Ruby asked softly.

Neo's face softened once more, the worry leaving her body as she hugged Neo back, a hand on Ruby's head and she planted a soft kiss on her head. "Of course we can sweetie." Neo answered.

* * *

"When was the last time you slept?" Mizu asked, spying her daughter sitting on her bed surrounded by all the files they recovered from the compound.

"What day is it?" Ruby asked, not even bothering to look up.

"Thursday." Mizu answered. They had attacked on the Saturday and retrieved everything from the area alongside everyone arrested under Hunter authority so not even Ironwood could get him out of it.

"Friday night was the last time I was asleep." Ruby commented as if it was nothing. Since getting the files she had done little but go over every piece of information she could find about buildings or compounds that were owned by the Schnee family, namely the male leader.

But also during that time at the same time, she had spent time with Winter in learning how to control her summons, which she discovered were a number of black rapiers that she could control individually. Currently she could summon ten at once.

"You know this isn't healthy. You need to rest." Mizu said disapprovingly.

"I guess. But mom's still out there. I'm sure you want to find her just as much as me." Ruby replied, finally stopping and looking up to Mizu for the first time.

The bags under Ruby's eyes were evident, even if Neo had been helping Ruby with sorting through all the information, it still didn't stop Ruby from working endlessly.

"I do. But I know about actually pacing yourself and looking after yourself. How have you managed to stay awake?" Mizu asked.

"Coffee. Tablets. Using my Aura to boost myself." Ruby listed off, looking back at the file in her hand.

Mizu just sighed, realising that Ruby wouldn't stop so decided a different tactic. "How about a compromise?" Mizu asked.

"What sort of compromise?" Ruby asked.

"I will help you comb through these files for an hour, I might be able to help. After an hour though, I want you to sleep for at least eight hours." Mizu replied, a soft smile on her face.

"But…" Ruby started to say.

"Eight hours!" Mizu said more forcefully this time.

Ruby just ducked her head, "Alright." Ruby agreed.

So for the next hour, the pair worked together combing through the files that they could, it varied in degree. Some of it was simple memos between the man and parts of the company, while others were bank statements that he had made.

As the hour was almost up, Mizu came across something. "Hold on. Have you seen any bank statements sending large sums of money out of his private account?" Mizu asked.

Ruby's wolf ears perked up at this as she looked up at her mother, her eyes glossing over as she went through her memory.

"A couple. There was one sending one point five million lien out of his account, listed as Atlas Holiday Home Upkeep several years ago. And there was another one, I'd say around a million lien this time, for the same reason and this was around fifteen years ago. Roughly. Why?" Ruby asked, opening her eyes as she was confused as to why Mizu was asking about that.

"Well. We don't have a holiday home in Atlas. We live there and have a home, but we don't have a holiday home there. And certainly not one that requires a million lien in upkeep." Mizu answered.

"Then what is it?" Ruby asked, looking at the file again to try and discover something.

"I'm not sure exactly. I need to make some calls to a few people and see if I can discover where this supposed home is." Mizu responded, moving to stand up and start putting the files away. "Now, I believe you have you end of our deal to uphold." Mizu said, smiling softly.

Ruby pouted as she looked up to Mizu, trying her best look, "But I want to know what you find out." Ruby said.

"And you will. After you sleep." Mizu said, not relenting at all.

"Fine." Ruby said, defeated as she helped pack away the files before getting ready for bed.

"Thank you my little wolf." Mizu said softly, rubbing Ruby's head as she climbed into bed.

Ruby snuggled into the bed, growling softly in appreciation for the touch as she buried herself into the bed. Soon falling asleep.

Mizu smiled softly as she sat there watching Ruby sleep for a little bit, her normally guarded features were much softer now and more peaceful. Her ears were flat against her head while her face was half buried in the pillows.

"Is she asleep?" Neo asked softly as she entered the room quietly.

"Yeah. She is, I made a compromise with her." Mizu answered.

Already guessing the compromise Neo instead asked, "Did you find anything?"

"We did actually. Several transactions each year for the last fifteen or so years, a million lien each time and well. It's for a holiday house in Atlas." Mizu answered.

"That's a lot. Must be a nice house." Neo said, not even thinking what a house that amount of money would look like.

"I wouldn't know. I've never seen it, or even known about it until now." Mizu replied back.

"What do you mean?" Neo asked, confused.

"Exactly what I said. I've never even known of it." Mizu responded. "But I'm going to go find out." Mizu promised.

"Well, I'm sure Ruby will want to know when she wakes up." Neo replied.

"She wanted to stay awake, but I made her go to bed." Mizu said, smiling softly at her words.

"Thank you for doing this." Neo said, hugging the woman.

Returning the hug, "Anything for my daughter in law." Mizu stated.

"Well, am I still? Ruby was technically dead." Neo asked, smiling in response.

"Just another excuse for a wedding." Mizu said, smirking at Neo.

"I guess so." Neo stated, yawning a little.

"Why don't you go to sleep as well? I'll be by later on once I find out more." Mizu promised, and Neo just nodded in response.

Mizu smiled once more at the woman before she left the room, intent on finding her other daughters to enlist their help in finding out just where this supposed holiday home was located.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **So another chapter down and i'm completely and utterly tired. Stayed up and watched loads of extra life, which was amazing and they raised an amazing amount of money.**

 **Not much more to say as i'm still working on other stuff and slowly getting there plus a few other things. So until next time.**


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter-32**

 **Ten hours later.**

It took a while, but she was able to find out a rough location of where the holiday home was located. Somewhere in the mountains of Atlas, now with the added help of Winter and some friends of hers, they were getting some scouts up there to find out more.

Excited with the news, Mizu alongside Winter and Weiss moved through the school quickly and headed towards Ruby and Neo's room. Where at the door, they could hear the two talking.

"So our next step should be dealing with Ironwood?" Neo was heard asking.

"Yeah, I think we should start eliminating her support or at least anyone that will get in our way. We need to stop her, sooner rather than later. Perhaps if we start eliminating her support, it will slow her plans down or maybe even stop them." Ruby explained calmly, and some ruffling could be heard.

"How do you want to go about it though? We haven't really got the evidence, have we?" Neo asked, curious to see how it would all play out.

"Raven's gathering evidence of him providing the White Fang with weaponry and equipment. She should be arriving back later today. Once we've got everything we'll take it to Ozpin, and then the security council. With him out of the picture, we'll target Cinder's closest allies." Ruby explained and the three women outside chose this moment to enter.

"Hello Ruby, Neo." Mizu greeted upon entering the room.

"Hey sis, and other sis." Winter said cheerfully as she moved into the room quickly with Weiss just behind her.

"Hello." Neo answered, while Ruby mumbled a greeting from the closet, attempting to find some clothes to wear.

"How did it go?" Neo asked, deciding to get right to it.

"We found out a rough location. Somewhere in the mountains in Atlas, we believe that it's possibly located in the highest one it has a road running to it but forests everywhere else. So, it's a perfect bottleneck." Winter explained.

"Well sounds great, do you have any idea about its actual location?" Ruby asked from the closet still attempting to pick out something to wear.

"Not currently. Winter has got some supporters in the military still and they've agreed to send recon flights up to the mountains for us. Were you discussing about removing Ironwood?" Mizu explained while asking the question.

"Aria?" Neo interrupted.

"Grandmother and Auntie already asked, I'm on it." Aria replied back immediately.

"We are, once Raven gets back I'll have everything we need for it." Ruby answered as she knew what was going to happen.

"Are you having issues with clothes Ruby?" Mizu asked as she realised her daughter was lost.

"Can't find anything to wear I want something different but nothing stands out." Ruby blurted out as she sighed dramatically.

"Right I'll be back in a minute." Mizu said quickly as she turned around and left the room.

"Um…ok then." Ruby said as she was unsure just what had happened so she came out of the closest in simply her underwear and went back to the bed.

"So…" Winter said trailing off.

"Anything more we need to say or explain?" Neo asked while Ruby curled into Neo on the bed.

"Well just what your plans are for the coming days and well, just everything." Winter asked.

Neo looked down to Ruby who just simply curled her face into Neo's stomach and laid there, her ears flat against her head as she was relaxed.

"Well as Ruby said we're waiting for Raven to come back to give us enough evidence for Ironwood. Which would have been nice of her to tell me." Neo explained as she glared at Ruby who hadn't told her anything about that. "Anyway once we've dealt with him we want to eliminate support for Cinder. We believe that the White Fang might be losing support with Faunus and then we want to take out Cinder's close associates which we already have identified." Neo finished explaining.

"So quite simple then." Weiss said, speaking up for the first time.

"I guess so, though it's a lot of legwork to be honest." Neo said.

Just at that moment Mizu came rushing back in as she seemed to ignore what Ruby was going and pushed the woman into the bathroom while giving her a bundle of clothes.

It took almost ten minutes before Ruby came out again and she easily made everyone's jaw drop as Ruby seemed to finally look her age.

She had a black skirt on with tights that reached up to her upper thighs alongside black raised boots. Next came a long sleeved cotton blouse which had an almost window like part which revealed some of her cleavage.

A black corset was placed over the top and a short red cloak was wrapped around her shoulders while she had leather bands wrapped loosely around her upper arms and going underneath her armpits to cross on her back over her blouse, with a small backpack on her back.

On her wrists were black leather vambraces, one on each wrist while there were equally black fingerless gloves covering her hands.

Black boots with red tread underneath, that reached up to just below her knee and were strapped up along the boot.

And her choker was on proud display as if the outfit was made for that express purpose as Ruby wore no make-up except for some red lipstick.

Ruby twirled around a little the shorter skirt moving with her as it spun out more while Ruby spoke up shyly, "What do you think?" Ruby asked as she looked over everyone's face.

"You look great. Was this your work mother?" Weiss asked as she stared at Ruby and for the first time saw her as looking older.

"It was something I made for Summer when we were still in school. And well, it's only right for Ruby to have it." Mizu explained as she smiled sadly at the memory.

Ruby simply mirrored the smile as she thought back to everything as she just stood there awkwardly. Unsure what to do currently.

"So, what do we do now?" Weiss asked.

"I guess we just wait and plan. We can't do anything until Raven returns and the scouts you sent report in." Ruby explained while shrugging her shoulders.

"Well what about right now?" Winter asked.

"We could train together." Neo suggested with a smirk at the others as they all seemed to agree.

 **A/N**

 **So I know it's a short chapter but it's simply a bit of set up for the last one. Might break it up a little because it doesn't flow very well which is mildly annoying for me.**

 **I'm going to try and become more regular on updating for my other story but I won't promise anything as I won't keep it.**

 **Working on two One-shots at the minute, one is a new idea because I watched Aldnoah Zero which is fucking amazing and the music just gives you chills. I love it, but struggling to make a full story out of it annoyingly so I'm going with a one shot.**

 **Anyway until next time.**


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter-33**

 **Four hours later.**

They only had small breaks between fighting each other. It was Ruby and Neo together fighting against Winter and Weiss while Mizu was the referee for the match.

But after four hours of fighting it was interrupted by a tall woman with long, puffy black hair entering the room. But she simply stood to the side by Mizu as she waited for them to finish the current round.

The round ended with Ruby's knife at Weiss' chest while on the other side Neo had flipped Winter over and was straddling her waist as she smiled playfully down at the woman.

"Match to the Rose's." Mizu called out as everyone let go of each other.

"What's the score?" Raven asked.

"The Roses are winning twenty-one to nineteen." Mizu informed Raven as the four women came over to them all, grabbing bottles of water to cool down with.

"Did you find anything?" Ruby asked as she finished what was in the water bottle in a single go.

"Got evidence that the leaders were corresponding with Ironwood and a couple others in Atlas' high command were talking with them through Roman and then Adam. It seems to be them just talking before a promise of equipment in terms of guns and suits of Paladin's and apparently even some of the new androids as well." Raven explained.

"Hard evidence? And what about that one we destroyed with Roman inside? Any evidence of that left?" Ruby asked.

"Right here." Raven said as she waved a folder full of papers around, "And no. The Atlas military handled the clean-up of all fighting." Raven informed her.

"Right. We should go to Ozpin now and get everything in motion. What about the White Fang?" Neo asked as she spoke up.

"Split. A large amount of them have left after seeing the video of the Schnee women helping to free Faunus alongside the fact that the Red Reaper is in fact a Faunus, a wolf Faunus at that. It seems that the fact that you fought the White Fang has made them start to doubt themselves and just leave." Raven explained.

"What about the others?" Weiss asked.

"They're the diehard supporters. They're remaining by Adam but they've vanished off somewhere in the Atlas Mountains." Raven explained as she looked around at the shocked faces which only confused her. "What?" She asked confused.

"We believe that's where Summer is being held. A supposed holiday home that my ex-husband kept and well, with you mentioning that the diehard members have fled to their it only reinforces our need to go there." Mizu explained for everyone.

"So you think Summer is being kept up there?" Raven asked.

"We do. Winter has already got some recon flights happening as we speak." Weiss answered.

"What's happening with them? Have you heard anything yet?" Raven asked.

"Not as of yet. Now that you're here we'll go to Ozpin and the council to deal with Ironwood." Ruby answered this time.

"Right. Sort out Ironwood what about after him?" Raven asked.

"Cinder's allies before the woman herself. She's the immediate threat." Ruby stated.

"Well then how about we go to Ozpin right now and start the wheel?" Raven suggested and everyone accepted this way as they all left Ruby and Neo's room to head to Ozpin's office.

Handing over the evidence to Ozpin he got everything in motion for Winter to take over from Ironwood and a team of Hunters were dispatched to arrest Ironwood.

"What about Cinder's associates?" Ozpin asked.

"Don't worry about them. I will deal with them shortly." Ruby replied as she left the room with her cloak bellowing behind her as she headed towards the courtyard.

"What's the plan?" Neo asked as she walked alongside Ruby.

"We give them a chance. Emerald and Mercury. If they chose not to leave Cinder at the least, then we need to arrest them if possible." Ruby said in reply to the question.

"And if not?" Neo asked noted mentally that they were walking to the docks.

"Then we need to disable them." Ruby stated plainly as she stopped just outside a bullhead and turned to look at Neo.

Neo had long since changed back into her normal outfit at least for the moment as she liked the feel of it all. They stared at each other before leaning into each other and kissing.

After almost a full minute of kissing the two pulled away but leaned their heads together. "It's nearly over. All of it. We're so close." Ruby mumbled softly.

Neo didn't answer her as there was always this worry between them both of just what would happen when it was over. Almost their entire lives they had been working towards this point but they never discussed what would transpire after they finished. The only thing the two women knew for sure was the fact that they would stay together after all of this ended.

"What's…" Neo started to ask but was interrupted by a flashing next to them and then suddenly seeing Aria sitting on the floor next to them.

"Aria? What's wrong?" Ruby asked as she broke their embrace and rushed over to her 'daughter'

"I was on one of the ships going over that place in Atlas but there were defences. One of the ships were shot out of the sky but the pilots managed to get out in time. I was in that ship so I jumped as soon as possible." Aria explained quickly as she stood up but seemed to be rubbing her arm.

"Are you alright?" Neo asked worriedly.

"I'm fine mother. A little shocked but I'm alright. The others are all alright as well and they're on their way home now. Auntie Winter should have the information shortly." Aria explained.

"Thank you Aria. And well at least we know that they have anti-air defences." Ruby said as she smiled softly towards her daughter.

"So what were you going to ask?" Ruby asked Neo as she was curious to know.

"I was going to ask how you know where Emerald and Mercury will be?" Neo asked as she lied about what she truly wanted to ask.

"Well you are going to meet one of my informants. I've been given certain proof that they will both be there." Ruby replied with a soft smile that made Neo uncertain.

"Girls! You ready?" Naomi called out as she leaned out of the cockpit.

"We're ready Naomi." Ruby said as she took Neo's hand and climbed into the Bullhead.

"Hey kiddo, jump up here with me." Naomi called own the ship to Aria who happily entered the ships systems and materialised in the co-pilot seat.

Naomi quickly took them into the air and while she was in the front talking with Aria the two women in the back were silent as they enjoyed each other's presence.

"Why are we heading to the arena?" Neo asked as she noticed where they were heading.

"That's where they are." Ruby said plainly as she drew her small dagger in one hand but she kept her other hand open and free of her weapon.

"Are you ready?" Ruby asked.

"Let's get this over with." Neo responded with a smile as she took her parasol into her hands as she stood up alongside Ruby and walked to the rear ramp.

"Right ladies. Remember be safe and have a good night. I'll be sitting here and waiting for you so don't take too long." Naomi teased as she sounded almost like a mother to the pair.

"We won't." They called out together and they left the aircraft and headed into the arena.

They kept walking until they neared the main stage part and they could hear talking going on in the arena.

"Em, I thought you said Cinder was meeting us here? But where is she?" Mercury asked as he sounded bored.

"Don't worry Mercury she'll be here in a minute. Trust me." Emerald said in reply as she seemed to practically bounce.

As soon as Ruby and Neo entered the arena as their boots clicked against the floor and immediately Mercury adopted an offensive stance as he got ready to attack.

"I come in peace. At least for now." Ruby said as she opened her hands out wide with one hand simply displaying her dagger while her other hand had no weapon in it.

Neo stood just behind Ruby although she was ready to attack at a moment's notice. "I am here simply to ask you to leave Cinder. Abandon her side I do not care what you do as long as you stay out of trouble and do not return. Or you could join me and help me defeat Cinder." Ruby said her voice was strong and her ears were on proud display as there was no hiding just who she was.

"And if we don't?" Mercury asked as he didn't notice how quiet Emerald was being.

"Then you will no longer be a threat." Ruby said coldly while her hands were still out in her offering.

Before Mercury could respond however Emerald moved forward towards the pair and Mercury could only watch in stunned silence as Emerald took the offered hand with a smile and stood behind Ruby with Neo.

"Neo, please meet Emerald. She is my source. Emerald, please meet my wife Neo." Ruby said in a soft smile before she turned back to Mercury. "What is your choice?" Ruby asked as she turned back to the man.

Mercury didn't answer verbally but instead just charged forward with his foot extended as he aimed for Ruby's head.

Ruby just signed and with one arm she sweeps the two women out of the way while she spun her dagger around and just as Mercury was about to make contact she side stepped while bringing her knife down directly through Mercury's leg.

Mercury cried out at the sudden shock of the attack but Ruby ignored it as she instead grabbed her scythe and instead of fully deploying it she only put it into rifle mode and fired a single shot into Mercury's other leg.

The bullet took Mercury's leg apart in a single shot and all the circuits and electronics were exposed but once more Ruby didn't stop until she tore her dagger out but not before twisting it and taking off Mercury's other leg.

Ruby put both her weapons away as she walked over to the fallen Mercury who could only whimper on the ground.

All of this happened in the span of ten seconds as Ruby had torn Mercury apart and left him there on the floor.

"Aria let Ozpin know what's happened and that someone is sent to pick him up if you please." Ruby asked of her daughter as the trio headed back to the ship.

Neo was talking Ruby's ear off about how Emerald was her source and that she wouldn't even tell Neo that fact. But Ruby brushed it off as she said that Emerald wanted to remain a secret from everyone so only Ruby knew.

"So what now then? Cinder?" Emerald asked almost cheerfully.

"Yes she's next, I don't suppose you have any idea where she is, do you?" Ruby asked on the flight back.

"No. She's been rather secretive as of late but I'm sure we'll be able to find her." Emerald said in response.

"Let's get back to the others then. We can work something out." Neo stated calmly at them both as they went back to the ship and were taken back towards the school.

"Hey guys I'm getting Winter on the line. She wants to talk to you." Naomi called out from the cockpit as they were halfway to the school.

"Aria, patch her through to our links please." Ruby requested as she leaned back in the chair with her eyes closed.

 **A/N**

 **So, I've been rather lazy, sorry about that and I really mean it. I've got another chapter then an epilogue ready for this I've also got a Christmas one-shot to come out as well and then I'm flipping between a couple stories to do.**

 **Not much else, in case I don't get to it. Have a Merry Christmas and a happy new year.**


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter-34**

"Hey Ruby we just got a report from the recon teams." Winter said into their links in their ears.

"You've got both of us. What have they found? Aria's already back." Neo asked.

"Heavy anti-air defences but we've got ground teams there and apparently Cinder Fall has been spotted entering the complex." Winter explained.

Ruby and Neo looked to each other and then towards Emerald before going back to each other as if saying, 'what are the chances?'

"Have you got images of the complex?" Ruby asked as her mind started to race through plans.

"We've got loads of images alongside ground penetrating radar images as well. This place is massive; I don't even know how it's been hidden for so long." Winter couldn't help but say.

"We're about ten minutes away from the school could you send the images over to Aria please? Oh, and get Ozpin and everyone together in my training room please?" Ruby requested.

"Sending them now. And Everyone?" Winter asked sounding confused as to who that involved.

"The other teams we've worked with before and Raven and Qrow alongside the teachers. I need to speak to them all." Ruby requested.

"Right I'm on it. See you shortly." Winter said as she cut the call.

"Aria could you feed me the pictures please?" Ruby asked as she leaned back into the chair and looked at the roof.

"What's she doing?" Emerald asked as she watched Ruby and could see her eyes darting around behind her ears and the woman mumbling.

"We've both got implants that directly link to our brain so we can talk to each other. At the same time though we can have images directly put into our brain and into our eyes. That's what she's doing right now." Neo answered calmly as she kept her eyes focused on Ruby.

Suddenly Neo's eyes glazed over and Emerald could only sit there and watch as it seemed the pair were having a silent conversation though Neo spoke aloud for Emeralds benefit.

"It could work. Could you teach it quickly though?" Neo asked aloud.

"Right, right. Forgot that part. What about the AA defences?" Neo asked after a few seconds.

"Are you sure? What if they can track us?" Neo asked once more.

"If you're sure. We should run it past the others first though. I'll let you know once we arrive." Neo said as her eyes seemed to return to normal and she smiled towards Emerald.

"What was all that about?" Emerald asked.

"Ruby was running an idea past me in how to get into that complex in Atlas it requires some training on anyone who's coming with us. But the idea is sound." Neo answered.

"What's the idea?" Emerald asked.

"We jump from a high altitude so the AA guns can't shoot the aircraft down and using Aura manipulation we can land safely, although a bit hard on the ground. According to Ruby the type of AA guns there are unable to track small, fast moving objects so we will be safe it'll be a hard landing though." Neo explained calmly as she ran through it all in her head again.

"Is it possible though? Wouldn't the impact drain all our Aura?" Emerald asked.

"It wouldn't actually. Think of it like a shock absorber. Ruby and I have done it several times and well, it should be fine unless you get it wrong then you'll be drained." Neo explained, "But I'll let Ruby explain everything when we're there. Which would be in about a minute." Neo said slightly louder as she nudged Ruby to wake her up.

It didn't take long for them to reach the training hall that Ruby teaches in and saw that JNPR, CFVY and the rest of her own team alongside Glynda, Ozpin, Raven, Qrow and Mizu all stood around waiting and talking amongst themselves.

"Aria, could you help your mother get the images up for everyone to see please?" Ruby asked as she entered the room and immediately she gained everyone's attention.

"We, and I mean Winter, Weiss, Mizu and myself alongside Neo have discovered where we believe my mother is being kept. At the same time, it is a refuge for the remaining White Fang members. Raven." Ruby explained as she entered the room before allowing Raven to explain the White Fang side of it.

"The White Fang have splintered. After the stunt at the Schnee mine and everything happening around it many members have left but there are still a few diehard members alongside the leader, Adam remaining. I managed to track them to a place in the Atlas Mountains." Raven explained before opening the floor to Ruby again.

"We've discovered that they are the same place. And now we've learnt that Cinder Fall has gone there as well. Emerald has defected to our side while Mercury who was her other companion has remained on her side but we've dealt with him." Ruby explained as she looked to Ozpin who nodded slowly.

"Now we have a chance to end it all. We've got them all in one spot. However, I'm only telling you this so you know it all, it will be extremely dangerous so I'm asking if you wish to join me. If you do not, then I understand but if you do we will be training constantly for the mission as I need to teach you how we're getting in." Ruby said calmly but her voice was strong and her gaze took everyone in as she looked around at them all.

Her mini speech though was returned with determined looks and it seemed no one was backing down from it as Ruby met each and everyone's eyes.

After a few more minutes Ruby smiled at them all and spoke directly to Ozpin. "Ozpin, would you be able to procure a couple scaffolding towers?" Ruby requested calmly.

"How high would you need them to be?" Ozpin asked.

"About three stories to as high as the room." Ruby asked and once she received a nod from Ozpin she turned to the rest of the room and started her session. "I've had a plan on just what to do to get into this base. The best idea seems to be to go at it from the air. Drop in from above." Ruby said as Ozpin left the room.

"So, what, a parachute drop?" Winter seemed to ask as she was confused as everyone else on what they were talking about.

"Parachutes would be too risky by the time we open the chutes and land they will have enough time to see us and shoot at us while preparing their defences." Neo answered in Ruby's place.

"So how?" Blake asked.

"We jump and drop in from a high enough altitude that they can't detect us." Ruby answered. "By manipulating our Aura to protect ourselves as we land." Ruby explained.

"How does that work?" Jaune asked.

"Aura acts like a barrier but focusing it on one point we'd be able to hit the ground and using our Aura to absorb the impact of the fall." Ruby answered calmly.

"But wouldn't that drain all our Aura?" Coco asked.

"Normally yes. But I…we're going to train all of you in a method that once you hit the ground you're Aura won't be drained. The basic principles are spreading the impact across an area instead of it being pinpointed. So instead it only drains your Aura a little bit." Ruby explained the idea easily as she fell into an easy teaching mode and for the next two hours she went over the basics with them all and explained to them all the theory behind it.

During this time, Ozpin alongside some other students brought in pieces of scaffolding which Raven, Neo and Qrow all helped to assemble as they were already adept at this skill.

For the next three days, they trained all day only stopping for food and sleep as everyone was determined to learn and to help Ruby in this mission.

By three days Ruby was finally happy enough with everyone's progress that they decided to try it in a real-life environment so Naomi took them all up in the Bullhead and they proceeded to jump out.

Everyone managed to do it and only sustained minor injuries, namely just sore limbs but after another day of practise and jumping they managed to at least stop getting sore from landing and while they were far from mastering it completely it was enough for the mission.

So, a time was set. In just under twelve hours Naomi would transport them all in her Bullhead over the Atlas Mountains where they would jump and attack the base though it was clear just who wanted who.

Ruby easily claimed Cinder to be here and there was a hard-fought battle between Blake and Neo on who would have Adam and in the end, it was decided that it would be Blake's though Winter who knew of her past after Blake had told her agreed but only if she was present as well.

Everyone else was to take out the others there and to intervene if needed but otherwise to stay back as it was personal for those fighting.

"What are we going to do after this has all ended?" Neo couldn't help but ask as she was cuddling in bed with Ruby the night before they leave.

"I…I honestly don't know. I'm a warrior. I fight and it's all I know. It's what I've known most of my life but to have all that I'm fighting against just suddenly…vanish. I'm lost." Ruby said as she rested her head against Neo's chest while said woman played with her ears.

"You always call yourself that. A warrior. Why not a Huntress?" Neo asked softly as her hands continued to play with Ruby's hair and ears.

"My mother used to tell me a story when I was young about people born with silver eyes. In the old times, they were great warriors, and legends say that just a look from one of these warriors could outright kill Grimm. I don't know whether the story is true or not though I have known no one else to have silver eyes like my mother or I." Ruby explained calmly as her eyes closed and a soft purr was rumbling in her chest.

"Is that why you call yourself a warrior?" Neo asked softly.

"I guess…I loved that story when my mother told me about it. She said that the Roses have always had silver eyes. That it traces back in our family tree. But as for what to do after this, I just don't know…I think…I think I would like the peace of not having to fight constantly." Ruby said almost wishfully as her mind was miles away.

"Peace sounds nice. Nice. How about we wait to see what the new day brings us?" Neo suggested lightly and soon the pair fell into a comfortable silence before falling asleep together.

The next day they were quiet as they got ready for the fight. Ruby dressed in the outfit that Mizu had given her with her choker on full display for everyone to see and the rose glowing within.

While Neo wore her normal outfit with the dagger Ruby had crafted for her attached to her hip while her parasol was in her hand.

Ruby armed herself as well with her beloved scythe at her back with her two swords on her left hip and then finally her dagger on her right hip.

The two shared an embrace and a kiss together almost as if it was their last one but they knew it wouldn't be.

"Let's go." Ruby said huskily as her breath tickled Neo's lips.

"Let's." Neo replied and the two left the room hand in hand.

Arriving at the Bullhead they found everyone already waiting for them and they all quickly climbed in. And as they were about to take off Naomi called out.

"Hey Raven, pass this around. Anyone want one take it. And Aria I'd love if my co-pilot joined me." Naomi called out with a large smile as Aria materialised in the co-pilot seat.

Raven passed it around and saw that it was several already made roll up cigarettes though no one took any except for Ruby and surprisingly Neo both took one and were the only ones.

Lighting them up off the same light they happily seemed to smoke in the whole cargo area while they waited during the flight. "Is everyone aware of the plan?" Ruby asked as she blew smoke out.

"We are." Everyone said together.

"Weiss I have something important for you to do." Ruby said as she took out a small device from her pocket.

"What's this?" Weiss asked as she took the item.

"This allows Aria to be transported by someone with either our implants or electronic devices. But also, allows you to upload Aria into a closed system. We need you to upload Aria into the bases systems and protect her." Ruby explained what she needed done.

"Right. Where exactly do I upload her?" Weiss asked as she took the device.

"Any computer you can find. From there she can get through the entire system and update us. Hence why we're giving everyone ear pieces." Ruby answered as she turned to Qrow who started to hand out ear pieces to everyone.

"Put them in your ear and make sure they're secure. Touch your ear gently to transmit your voice." Qrow explained the basics of it to them.

"Five minutes to drop point." Naomi called out to everyone.

The entire cargo area was filled with the noise of everyone standing up and getting ready as the clattering of weapons and last minute checks were made amongst them all.

Slowly they all shuffled around the rear ramp which slowly opened as they all stood there. It was decided that Ruby and Neo would lead them as the most experienced jumpers and this style of landing so they would secure the initial site.

While Q row and Raven would take the rear of the group and help anyone in need while the others rushed in ahead of them all.

"Thirty seconds to drop. Going to red." Naomi called out. The entire compartment darkened for a second and then was bathed in red light as they all waited for the light to go green as their signal.

As the cabin went black before quickly changing too green and without a moment's hesitation they all walked forward and out of the aircraft.

Air whipped past them all as they raced towards the ground which was quickly coming up on them. Luckily for them all though the AA defences didn't detect them coming in so remained silent but that all changed in a moment.

Ruby and Neo slammed in the ground hard, small craters forming underneath their feet and without a second's hesitation they raced forward with their weapons drawn and attacking anyone in their way.

Almost a minute later everyone else had landed and immediately started fighting White Fang members that were rushing out to meet them.

While this was going on however, Ruby, Neo, Winter and Blake all rushed inside the complex and with no clear plan on where to go they all just followed Ruby as they disabled anyone in their way.

They got into a large open room with only a single other doorway but blocking that doorway stood Adam. His blade already out and pointed towards the ground as he smirked at the four of them but his attention focused on Blake.

"Hello my Love, it is such a pleasure to see you again." Adam said as his voice dripped lust.

"Have you got this?" Ruby asked Blake softly.

Blake simply nodded her head as Winter intertwined their fingers together and faced the threat that was Adam before them.

Ruby and Neo rushed towards Adam as he raised his sword up to attack them back but instead they just slipped around him and moved through the next door as the two other women charged Adam as well with Blake taking the lead.

Ruby and Neo easily slid past Adam and entering the next door they were in a hallway but wasted no time in following it through. They guessed that Cinder would be at the centre of the base and from there they could gain access to the all the bases defences.

"Mothers. I'm in the bases systems. I've got access to all the cameras but I can't gain access to the defences." Aria spoke to them directly.

"That's alright Aria, where is Cinder hiding?" Neo asked kindly.

"Keep heading in your direction and then take the first door on the right. She's in there with someone else but I don't know who. But they're in a chair." Aria informed them.

"Thank you, Aria, help the others out if you please." Ruby asked kindly as they followed the directions given to them and quickly came into the room that Aria mentioned.

"Cinder!" Ruby growled out as her scythe deployed and her dagger appeared in her other hand. But it took a minute before Ruby realised who she was looking at in the chair in front of Cinder.

"Oh? So, you've finally noticed have you?" Cinder asked as her voice oozed confidence. Placing her hands on the bloodied woman's shoulders.

Neo took note of one proud wolf ear standing up but where the other should be was a brutally cut remain of the one that used to be there. She also noticed how thin the woman was and how weak she seemed and the fact her breathing was shallow.

But after all this time both Ruby and Neo were surprised to see that Summer Rose was alive, after Ruby fearing that she was in fact dead. Something had clearly happened where Ruby had got everything wrong.

"You seem surprised to see dear old mommy. But I guess you would be especially after seeing that you thought she was dead all these years." Cinder said once more in a silky-smooth voice.

"What have you done to her?" Ruby growled once more as she seemed to hunch over as she was getting ready to charge.

"What have I done? Nothing. But you see, dear old papa Schnee wasn't too happy with his wife's relationship with momma Rose so he got me to capture her. Any means necessary so I used the White Fang. It was convenient really. They hated the wolves, exterminated them but there were two left so it was easy to get them on side. Though you were an interesting prize but sadly enough I wasn't able to get you." Cinder explained as she brushed her hand against Summer's cheek causing her to weakly wince.

"But here you are. After so many years I've finally managed to get you into the open and to me. So, I suppose today is a good day." Cinder said sinisterly as she drew her twin swords and walked in front of Summer.

"You won't touch her!" Neo shouted and immediately charged Cinder.

Her attack was blocked and she was knocked away into the wall but it gave Ruby the opening she needed to charge forward and bring her blades around to disarm Cinder of one of her weapons.

In that time, Neo could recover and down to only one of her two weapons Cinder was forced on the defensive and the two women managed to get the woman away from Summer safely for the wider swings and more deadly attacks to be rained down upon her.

Cinder ducked underneath Ruby's strike and as Neo was moving in to attack Cinder launched her own attack and kicked Neo in the stomach while her blade cut across her leg which was partially blocked by her Aura but still drew some blood.

Neo hit the wall hard and she didn't seem to get up which only made Ruby even more enraged at seeing that happen so her attacks got messier but more vicious as well.

So, locked up in combat with each other they didn't take notice of other people entering the room. Mizu followed by Winter and Blake entered the room to find Neo struggling to stand up and Summer sitting weakly on the chair.

Mizu rushed to Summer's side as she immediately started accessing her injuries as her mind was overwhelmed with worry over the woman.

While Blake and Winter rushed to aid Neo in getting up and lean her against the wall as she struggled to catch her breath and her Aura struggling to heal the damage.

"Winter. Console, you need to shut down the defences and get reinforcements here." Neo wheezed out as she struggled to breath and she could tell that she had at least one broken rib if not more.

Blake sat there next to Neo as she helped her try to heal and gave her something for the pain which helped Neo to relax.

A loud crash brought their eyes over to the fighting and saw as Ruby crashed through a wall with Cinder following quickly after her as the fighting continued.

Cinder kept up and blocked another one of Ruby's messy attacks and kicked her against the wall though this time she didn't go through it but instead slid down it with her scythe on the other side of the room and her swords long since fallen.

"You're strong I'll give you that much. But now look at you, barely even able to stand up and you thought undertaking this little crusade of yours on your own was a good idea. Now look at you, you're going to die all alone like you should have done all those years ago," Cinder said as her blade pressed up against Ruby's neck as her eyes stared up defiantly.

"But she's not alone. Unlike you." Weiss said from the hole made in the wall. Behind her were Blake and Yang with Neo leaning against Winter. "She has a team now. Friends and a family. Much more then what you have. And we stand by our family." Weiss finished saying as all three women of Ruby's team charged forward at Cinder.

Neo who had recovered just enough could slide Ruby's weapon over to her. Using it as leverage Ruby stood up on slightly weak legs as she lifted her weapon up. "Thank you." Ruby whispered before charging towards Cinder.

Yang, Weiss and Blake all kept her busy and on her toes as she struggled to defend against three attackers even if they were simply huntress' in training but then when Ruby was added to the mix it was deadly.

This time when Ruby disarmed Cinder with the help of Weiss, it wasn't simply the weapon flying away but the hand holding it as well.

Using her momentum, she followed through with the swing and cut Cinder's other hand off before hitting her with her fist which knocked her to the ground but just as Ruby was about to finish the woman off once and for all someone shouted out.

"STOP!" A weak voice rang out but it was strong enough to cut through Ruby and stop her.

Turning around Ruby spotted her mother, Summer Rose walking or rather limping alongside Mizu who was all but carrying the woman. But this didn't stop the strong conviction in Summer's eyes as she held her daughters gaze.

"This isn't you Ruby. You're not a killer. I know what she's done. What she has caused but don't degrade yourself to her level and become a killer as well." Summer practically begged her daughter as she leaned against Mizu even more. "Please." Summer begged as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed against Mizu who effortlessly picked her up.

Ruby turned back to Cinder to see the woman staring up at her waiting for the final judgement. "If you ever try anything again, I will not hesitate." Ruby said strongly before delivering a kick to Cinder's head and knocking her out.

Rushing over to Neo after that was done she kissed the woman she loved as it took all their efforts to remain standing. "I want to leave this place." Ruby said quietly before finally passing out leaving Neo to catch her who struggled but Winter soon came to her rescue.

 **One week later.**

A lot can happen in a week. For instance, in a single week the threat of the White Fang vanished almost overnight as the last remaining members were captured and Cinder Fall was arrested.

At the same time, Ruby, Neo and Summer were all put into intensive care but within that week they were cleared to leave the hospital at Beacon. But now the four women had no clue what they wanted to do, or rather two of them had an idea but wanted to talk with the other two.

"We want to leave Beacon. Go somewhere quiet and away from everything." Neo explained to Mizu and Summer who were both sitting down opposite them.

"Where do you want to go?" Summer asked softly. Over the last week, she learnt a lot about her daughter and what she had missed out on. And although the pair were married they also said that technically that Ruby died the marriage was void.

But Summer was happy that Mizu stepped up for Ruby when she did, and that she revealed herself to Ruby as well.

"We're not sure but we need to get away from it all…I…we want to stop fighting. Live a normal life or as best we can." Ruby answered this time.

Summer and Mizu shared a look together before looking back at the other two women. "We were actually thinking about moving to Patch. I had a house built there several years ago, with the intention to live there with Summer…Its remote and away from anyone or anything. We want to offer you this place to live in." Mizu explained.

"But what about you two? Where would you live?" Neo asked.

Mizu giggled in response to the question as she answered, "I have other places in Patch. Plus, I think it would suit you two more then Summer and me. We won't be far away from you so we can see each other as much as we would like to." Mizu answered.

"Um, we have another request." Ruby asked awkwardly as she was unsure how exactly to say it.

"What's that dear?" Summer asked.

"We…we don't want anyone to know where we're staying." Ruby replied.

"Why?" Mizu asked though her tone wasn't demanding or upset but simply curious.

"We just want to get away from everything. We thought it all through and well, we want some time to ourselves. We want to get to know you two more but without anyone else. It's…it's why we're asking you." Neo explained.

"We understand. And we'll help you move and set yourselves up there." Summer said with a soft, motherly smile on her face.

 **Two days later.**

It was rather surprising how quickly they could move everything they wanted to bring with them. And Mizu helped with organising furniture for the house and making sure it was all set up for them to move straight in though the two spare rooms were left bare to allow the two women to choose what they wanted to do with them.

But they were set up and comfortable and were spending their first night together in their new bed in their new house.

"This is nice. No fighting. No looming threat. Just you and me." Neo whispered to Ruby.

Ruby smiled as she kissed Neo's neck and started to lightly suck at a small spot on her neck. "It's amazing. But I was thinking…" Ruby said but trailed off as she carried on kissing down Neo's neck.

"Oh?" Neo said as a moan left her lips. "What's that?"

"We never did have a 'proper' wedding night." Ruby said as she flipped on top of Neo and captured her lips in a kiss.

After breaking apart Neo spoke up, "I guess we didn't. But we've got time to make up for it." Neo said as she instead flipped Ruby over and sat on top of her.

 **A/N**

 **So this is the final chapter of story but there's one more to end it all off. Not too much to say except that this story had been rather nice writing even towards the end and now I'm off to work on some other stuff.**

 **I'll post the last bit tomorrow when i get a chance. Until next time and thank you for all the support.**


	35. Epilogue

**Chapter 35-Epilogue**

It was rather surprising at just how much they were missed, apparently suddenly vanishing without any explanation wasn't a nice thing to do.

But Ruby and Neo had both left their scrolls at Beacon, getting new ones that only Ruby's mothers had the number to.

The media had kicked up a storm as well as the supposed saviour had vanished, especially when it came out that she was a lost daughter of the Schnee's and technically the heir to the Schnee fortune.

Though Ruby and Neo had no care for any of this, instead liking the quiet life that Patch afforded them, and with Mizu and Summer rather close by they weren't wanting for company.

Aria had chosen to stay with Naomi as the duo had formed a bond and so Aria had chosen to act as Naomi's co-pilot and aid her and the Vale military in different endeavours.

Though she would sometimes come home to see her parents, always invited to drop by whenever she wanted to and she would gladly take the time to see them.

Winter and Weiss were a slightly different story, although they were related to Ruby they didn't have any contact with the couple. Though Mizu would drop hints that they should strike up a line of conversation with them, though they were pissed they understood their need, partly.

Over the two years Ruby and Neo had remained away though they kept up to date on all the information available and on their teammates, and hearing from Mizu about Winter's relationship with Blake was always interesting for them.

But now after two years they had decided it was time to make an appearance again and to join their friends once more and be a part of the world, though in a different capacity than before.

There was a party being held for the Schnee family to make two years of change and progress for Faunus as it was two years to the day that the male Schnee had been arrested.

Deciding it was a good place to return and to make a rather surprising announcement the pair got ready, though not wearing dresses in the traditional sense.

Ruby wore her rather new outfit, one that Neo had designed in the masses of spare time they had developed over the two years.

She was wearing her own outfit. She had a white high-neck décolletage blouse and a black and white skirt. Alongside this she had an over-bust corset and a black belt. She had thigh-high stockings that reached a few inches under the hem of her skirt and she work black, red soled boots that reach a few inches below her knees.

Her most distinction feature though was the red cloak that was wrapped around her shoulders, held in place by a single silver rose clip. Her wolf ears stood up proudly on top of her head as her hair was much longer than before.

Neo however wore black trousers and a white shirt with a rather thick jumper over the top. Though it did little to hide the bump that was forming there.

"Ready?" Ruby asked softly, her voice having grown softer when she speaks now.

"Of course. Though are you sure about this?" Neo asked, checking once more that she was alright with them finally revealing themselves once more.

"I am. Now's as good a time as any, and I can't stand more of mother's hints." Ruby replied, a soft smile adorning her face.

"Do you think Aria will be happy with what you've done?" Neo asked as they walked out the door, heading to the car.

"I hope so, but I'm not sure if it's something she'd want or not." Ruby replied, climbing into the driver's seat.

"At least she'll have the option. So, who's going to be at this party?" Neo asked.

"Pretty much everyone we know and more most likely, if you'd like we can still back out." Ruby said calmly.

"No, it's alright. It should be alright." Neo replied.

The rest of the journey to Mizu's newer, rather large house nearer the main city of Patch was spent in comfortable silence.

As they started pulling up towards the main door they noticed many cars parked around the place. Finding somewhere inside the garage to park, having a key for it.

Parking inside, Ruby was quick to help Neo out of the car. Though she got glared at for doing it, which Ruby just ignored.

Sneaking into the house they found Mizu and Summer rather easily through the throngs of people who didn't seem to recognise the two women as they moved through.

"Mothers." Ruby greeted softly.

"Ruby! Neo! I'm glad you're here, you look well." Mizu said immediately, engulfing the two into a tight hug.

"You're showing more, how far along is it now?" Summer asked softly, even though it had been two years she was still recovering from some of her trauma at the hands of Cinder Fall.

"Four months now, it's great fun. Especially since she's decided to start kicking in the middle of the night." Neo said, placing a hand on her stomach.

"Oh she's kicking now? You mustn't get any sleep." Mizu commented, "I remember carrying Winter and Weiss, couldn't sleep at all when they were active." Mizu remembered.

"It's not bad, if she's active then Ruby would sing to her. It always calms her down, she loves her lullaby." Neo said as she smiled warmly towards Ruby, who blushed slightly and simply hugged her wife.

"She always did have a beautiful voice." Summer said.

"So have you thought of any names?" Mizu asked.

"A few but we're waiting until she's born." Ruby answered.

"What about Aria's present?" Summer asked, interested at what her daughter was making for her AI daughter.

"It's ready, we're simply waiting for the right time to show her." Neo answered.

"I'm sure she'll be excited for it." Summer replied.

"Ruby?! Neo?!" Winter Schnee's voice rang out rather loudly, gaining everyone's attention.

"Hello Winter, how are you?" Ruby said softly as she turned around to look at Winter with Blake on her arm.

Neo slowly turned with Ruby, one arm wrapped around Ruby and the other covering her stomach in a comforting and protective manner.

"Wait! You're pregnant?" Winter exclaimed loudly in surprise as she took in Neo's swollen stomach.

 **A/N**

 **So this was a bit of improv ending here as i just thought it up and found it funny to do. Funnily enough sort of relates to the next story but that won't be until next week now.**

 **I want to thank everyone who has supported me and this story and followed, favourited and reviewed this story. Not much more i can think of saying so until next time.**


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